Bhubaneswar: June 02: Odiya Mountaineer Kalpana Dash’s mortal remains reached Bhubaneswar today after the completion of formalities at Kathmandu. The body was kept at Kalinga Stadium for around one hour for the public to pay last respect to the departed soul.
The body of Kalpana was supposed to reach at Bhubaneswar yesterday itself, but the flight carrying the body from Kathmandu got delayed and reached Delhi Airport too late. So, today morning it reached Biju Patnaik International Airport at 9:30 am. Further, the body was taken to Kalinga Stadium where all arrangements had been made by Odisha Government’s Sport & Youth Affairs Department.
Eminent personalities, Government officials and hundreds of youth gathered at Kalinga Stadium to get a last glimpse of Mountainneer Kalpana, pay their homage to the great mountaineer.
Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera and Secretary Vishal Dev also prayed for the soul to rest in peace. Kalpana’s family members were also present there and seeing her mortal remains, they had completely broken down.
Kalpana breathed her last on May 23 during her decline at Everest Balcony. Due to extreme weather conditions, it took the sherpas almost a week to retrieve her body and bring it to the base camp Lukla. Odisha Government was constantly in touch with Indian Embassy in Nepal to bring Kalpana back to Odisha.
Paying homage, Sports Minister Tusharkanti Behera said, “Kalpana Dash was an ace mountaineer who brought fame to the state. She was an achiever who led by example and will continue to inspire young aspirants to scale great peaks’.
Kalpana first scaled it in 2008 and later trekked several mountains across Europe, South America, North America and Africa.
