Bhubaneswar: In a major development ahead of Independence day, the State Government tidy appointed chairpersons of District Planning Committees (DPC).
According to notification, Several Ministers and MLAs have been appointed as the DPC chief. However Agriculture and Animal Husbandary minister Arum Sahu has been ignored.
While Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water, Law and Housing and Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena has been appointed as Mayurbhanj District Planning Committee chairperson, the School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash has been named as the Jajpur DPC chief.
Similarly, Food Supplies and Cooperation Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain was appointed as Kendrapara DPC chief.
The notification also stated that Finance Minister Niranjan Pujari was appointed as Puri District Planning Committee chief, ST and SC Development Minister Jagannath Saraka (Gajapati), Forest and Environment and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh (Kandhamal).
Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Sudam Marndi (Sonepur), Handloom and Textile Minister Padmini Dian (Rayagada), Water Resources Minister Raghunandan Das (Nabarangpur), Sports and Youth Services Minister Tusharkanti Behera (Malkangiri), Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das (Bolangir), RD and Labour and ESI Minister Susanta Singh (Sambalpur), C&T and P&C Padmanabha Behera (Jharsuguda), Science and Technology Minister Ashok Chandra Panda (Angul), Energy Minister Dibya Shankar Mishra (Dhenkanal), Works, Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallik (Deogarh and Keonjhar) and Women and Child Development Minister Tukuni Sahu (Kalahandi), respectively.
Similarly, MLAs Ananta Das was named as Balasore DPC chief, Byomakesh Ray (Bhadrak), Prasanta Kumar Muduli (Jagatsinghpur), Pramod Kumar Mallick (Cuttack), Prasanta Kumar Jagadev (Khurda), Satyanarayan Pradhan (Nayagarh), Srikanta Sahu (Ganjam), Mahidhara Rana (Boudh), Raghu Ram Padal (Koraput), Rajendra Dholakia (Nuapada) Debesh Acharya (Bargarh) and Sarada Prasad Nayak (Sundargarh), respectively.