Mayurbhanj, the home district of President Droupadi Murmu, has geared up to welcome its daughter on Monday.

The entire district is plastered with pictures and banners welcoming Murmu. This would be her second visit to Mayurbhanj after becoming the President.

Her two-day visit to the home district is lined up with programmes. She will inaugurate the literary festival of All India Santali Writers’ Association and a school for children and open a skill training centre for the youths of the district. She would also flag off three trains and inaugurate a new postal division.

“The visit of the President will bring new development to the area. The district being a tribal dominated area, remains backward. However, things have been swiftly changed after she became the President. Several developmental programmes have been initiated in the district,” said Muna Pratihari, a social activist.

As per the scheduled programme, Murmu will inaugurate a new Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) campus of Kuliana, about 15km away from Baripada the district headquarters of Mayurbhanj on Monday. The school has come up with a budget of Rs 38 crore sanctioned by the ministry of tribal affairs which is being constructed by Hindustan Steel Construction Ltd (HSCL), a public sector enterprise under the ministry of housing and urban affairs.

The Kuliana EMRS campus is constructed on about 12 acres of land. It will have 16 classrooms for 480 students comprising 240 girls and 240 boys.

The EMRS is a flagship scheme of the Government of India for imparting quality education to tribal students. In 2019, the Centre sanctioned 452 new EMRS, one in every tribal block with 50% or more ST population and 20,000. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Ranchi on September 12, 2019.

Out of 87 new EMRS sanctioned in Odisha, Mayurbhanj district, the home district of the President, alone has 19 schools, one in every block, which is the largest for any district in India. Before the inauguration of the EMRS, the President would grace the inaugural session of the 36th Annual Conference and Literary Festival of All India Santali Writers’ Association at Baripada.

On Tuesday, Murmu will inaugurate a Skill Training Centre at Pahadpur village, her in-laws’ village. Subsequently, she will visit Badampahar Railway station from where she will flag off three new trains (Badampahar–Tatanagar MEMU; Badampahar-Rourkela Weekly Express; and Badampahar-Shalimar Weekly Express).

She would lay the foundation stone for redevelopment of Badampahar railway station.