Durga Sankar Das

Durga Shankar Das was born on 19 October 1920 in Taladi village of Bhograi in Balasore district to Trailokya Das and Soudamini Das. He was born in a lower middle class family for which he had his education with great financial difficulties. Though from an early age he developed his interest in freedom struggle, the opportunity came in 1942, when he was a student of Fakir Mohan College, Balasore. The ‘Do or die’ call of Mahatma Gandhi and the deep influence of revolutionary Tulasi Das, his maternal uncle, provoked him to plunge into the Quit India Movement. He was arrested on charges of inflammatory speech in Fakir Mohan College and was sentenced to fourteen months rigorous imprisonment. He was sent to the circle jail of Berhampur. He was so much dreaded by the administration that even after his release he remained under the constant vigil of the government. Observing his activities the chief secretary wrote to the government ‘His presence outside the prison bar is detrimental to the interest of His Majesty, the king Emperor’. He was therefore arrested again. From 1942 to 1943, he was arrested three times and spent thirty months in prison. But he had also escaped from police attention many times. By remaining underground for nine months he moved from village to village in the entire Balasore district to organise the base of the congress and spread quit India message to the people. The terrible Bengal famine of 1943 also had its impact on border district Balasore where many people died of hunger. On 18 April 1943 he led a procession of a group of hunger strikers in Balasore district and met the collector to apprise him in detail about the scarcity of food and starvation death in the district. After independence as a member of the Local Board from 1953 to 1956 he was associated with many developmental works. He was also elected to the State Legislative Assembly in congress ticket from Bhograi from 1957 to 1961. He was also the chairman of Bhograi Panchayat Committee from 1962 to 1967 and 1971 to 1977. He passed away on 22 August 2016.