Demand to name landmarks after former Odisha CM JB

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Mar 31:

Ahead of the first death anniversary of former Odisha Chief Minister Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, members of Janaki Ballabh Smruti Sansad (JBSS) today met chief minister Naveen Patnaik to put forth their demands including naming several institutions and landmarks after the departed leader.

Photo courtesy:
Photo courtesy:

The delegation led by senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Narasingha Mishra demanded the BPIA Square-AG Square stretch, Regional Plant Resource Centre (RPRC) popularly known as Ekamra Kanan and Utkal University of Culture be named after Janaki Ballabh Patnaik.

Besides, the Committee also demanded installation of a statue of the former Assam Governor in the Congress Bhawan premises here. Further, it also demanded to observe the first death anniversary of the three-time chief minister of the state in government and private sectors.

Notably, the Committee had organised a preparatory meeting recently to chalk-out plans to observe the anniversary on April 21.

It may be recalled that the veteran Congress leader, eminent litterateur and journalist passed away at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh in the wee hours on April 21 following a cardiac arrest.

Born on January 3, 1927 at Rameswar village in Khurda district, Patnaik was the Chief Minister of Odisha for two consecutive terms from 1980 to 1989 and then again from 1995 to 1999.

He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time in 1971 and became a Union minister in the Indira Gandhi government. He was the minister for Civil Aviation when he was chosen by Indira to become Chief Minister of Odisha in 1980.

Besides his political career, JB was also an eminent litterateur and won the Central Sahitya Akademi for his Odia translation of Bankim Chandra’s novels  titled ‘Bankim Chandra Upanyasmala’ in 2001 and the Odisha Sahitya Akademi award for his book ‘Bairagya Shataka’, a translation of Bhartruhari’s celebrated Sanskrit work, in 1996.

He also translated the Mahabharata, the Ramayana and the Shrimad Bhagabat Gita into Odia, all for which were highly acclaimed works. His other works were Sindhu Upatyaka and Gautam Buddha.

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