By Anurjay Dhal
RAJKANIKA/KENDRAPARA (ODISHA) With this eastern Indian State of Odisha till Monday afternoon reported 108 COVID-19 Positive cases with 35 cured returning home while situation continued to be tensed following reports of fresh cases in three districts of Bhadrak, Balasore and Jajpur mostly bordering troubled Mamata Banerjee ruled West Bengal, BJP National VP-Spokesperson and 4th times former Parliamentarian , Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda , who has been missing no stone unturned to do his part along with his party colleague and Union PNG-Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who got huge praise from even his political opponent, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for his effort to fight COVID-19, was on Monday extended his full support to the newly constituted 22-Memebers elite IAS Officers team to look into the post lockdown issues.
“As Odisha braces for the return of a huge number of migrants, many many lakhs of them, I convey my best wishes & full support to the team of senior Civil Servants tasked by the state government to lead Odisha’s part in #IndiaFightsCoronavirus,” the 4th times former MP, Panda twitted. “The morale boosting twit of senior BJP leader Panda, for the 22-Members IAS team has sent a positive message among bureaucrats, who have been facing the ‘VK Pandian-R Balakrishnan Onslaught’ both at Lok Seva Bhawan and Naveen Niwas in Bhubaneswar, 120 km from here,” sources said.
The ruling BJP’s Intellectual Brain, Panda, has been suggesting several measures to State Government in its fight against COVID-19. Earlier, he had suggested to take necessary action on Odisha-West Bengal border and had also urged the Chief Mnister Patnaik, to use several multi-purpose buildings constructed from MPLADs in Kendrapara, from where the senior BJP leader represented twice to Lok Sabha as BJD nominee from 2009-19, apart from twice represented BJD in Rajya Sabha from Odisha.
The senior BJP leader Panda has been instrumental in providing safe shelter and foods to tens of thousands of stranded Odias in States like Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and several other States due to COVID-19 nationwide lockdown. The senior BJP’s keader Panda’s offices located at New Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Kendrapara has been working overtime to ensure safe stay of Odias across the Country.
Meanwhile, with outside returnees are all set to hit their home land after the COVID-19 lockdown gets over by May 3, the Naveen Patnaik Government in Odisha has appointed 22 senior IAS officers as COVID-19 observers to various districts.
As per the Government notification, Anu Garg, and N.Tirumala Nayak will man Bhubaneswar City followed Madhu Sudan Padhi and Ratnakar Rout for Balasore and Bhadrak, Saurabh Garg and Susanta Mohapatra for Cuttack City and Cuttack Rural, Surendra Kumar and Srikant Prusty for Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar, G.Mathivathanan and Krishan Kumar for Ganjam and Gajapati
Hemant Sharma and Suresh Chandra Dalai for Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara, Bishnupada Sethi and Gopabandhu Satpathy for Angul, Deogarh and Dhenkanal, Sushil Kumar Lohani and Benudhar Behera for Bolangir, Bargarh and Nuapada, Saswata Mishra and Bishnu Prasad Mishra for Kalahandi, Kandhamal and Boudh, V.V. Yadav and Rashid Khan for Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada and Nabarangpur, Anil Kumar Samal for Nayagarh, Puri, Cuttack Rural, Khordha Rural, Niranjan Sahu for Sambalpur, Sonepur, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh
This apart, the Odisha Government posted Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra as Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare. He will be in additional charge of Revenue and Disaster Management Department. Nikunj Kumar Dhal, will continue to be the Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department.
The observers will review the preparedness at the district level and coordinate various other COVID-19 related activities. Worth mentioning a large number people of Odisha residing outside the State are expected to return after the lockdown restrictions are lifted.
In a statement, the government had on Sunday said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been taking stock of the COVID-19 situation on a day-to-day basis and has directed the appointment of the observers.
