Odisha govt announces cash prize for National Bravery Award winners

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today announced a cash prize of Rs one lakh each for Mamata Dalai and Pankaj Mohanta, the two children from the state who had received the National Bravery Award from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 24.

The prize will also be given to those receiving the bravery award in the future, the CM announced while meeting and felicitating Mamata and Pankaj at the State Secretariat here today.

Notably, Mamata, a 6-year-old girl from Kendrapara district, was awarded for her chivalry at the little age as she had saved her sister from a giant crocodile. She managed to save her sibling Ashanti Dalai from a 5-ft-long crocodile after pulling the latter out from the pond on April 6, 2017.

Similarly, 13-year-old Pankaj from Keonjhar district had saved three women from drowning in the Baitarani River.