There were scenes of jubilation in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district when the daughter of the soil — Draupadi Murmu, the President of India, reached the district on Thursday.

When Murmu reached the Badampahar helipad near her native village under the Rairangpur sub-division in Mayurbhanj, thousands of people stood near the barricade to greet her.

The President broke the protocol and walked down the road for about half a kilometre to meet the people waiting eagerly on both sides of the road. She even talked to the people enquiring about their living conditions.

For Murmu, this is her first visit to her native district after being elected as the President.

On the other hand, the ruling BJD and the Naveen Patnaik government, which had supported Murmu during her election, announced a Rs 10-crore package for the development of Ol Chiki script inventor Guru Gomke Pandit Raghunath Murmu Memorial.

Late Pandit, who hailed from Mayurbhanj, had invented the Ol Chiki script for the Santali language and is the most revered man of the tribals. Political observers feel that Patnaik’s move is meant to ensure that the BJP never gets a chance to sway the emotions of tribals by playing the Murmu card in the future.

Murmu reached her inlaw’s house at Pahadpur, about 5km from the helipad, to offer homage to her late husband Shayam Charan Murmu and her two sons — Laxman and Sipun.

She also talked to the students of SLS school set up by her. “We are happy to see the President, the daughter of our area, here. We are speechless,” said Khirod Tudu, a villager.