OdishaPlus Bureau
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan interacted with around 300 Odias across the Country through a webinar organised by Odia Samaj, New Delhi. As part of this endeavour, representatives of various Odia organisations from Delhi, Mumbai, Banglore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat besides other cities joined the webinar and interacted with the minister.
Siddharth Pradhan, President, Odia Samaj, New Delhi initiated the interaction narrating the objective of the webinar and various efforts taken by Odia Samaj core group and volunteers in reaching out to stranded Odia migrant workers. Till date Odia Samaj, New Delhi has extended help to 9000 Odia migrants by providing them with dry ration packets besides extending free legal aid.
Hiranya Mohanty, Trustee Odia Samaj, said, “Help was extended to Odias across various locations in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and UP. Around 18-20 Jagannath temples came together and joined hands with Odia Samaj in this noble cause. Prominent amongst these are Jagannath temple at Hauz Khas, Faridabad, Kotla, Rohini, Sangam Vihar, Bhiwadi, Bahadurgarh and Sector 121 Noida. Besides more than 30-40 Odia Organisations extended their support to Odia Samaj and reached out to the needy, distressed and stranded Odia families. Few of them are Ganesh Puja Committee, Durga Puja Committee, Saraswati Puja Committee, Pravasi Odia Parivar etc.
In his address Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan urged the members of Odia organisations across various cities to create awareness among the stranded Odia people about the protocols to be maintained as per the Covid-19 guidelines laid down by the government. The minister reiterated the need for using mask at all times, the use of sanitizer at regular intervals and the importance of hand washing and social distancing.
The webinar concluded with vote of thanks by Sandeep Mahapatra, Trustee, Odia Samaj, New Delhi.
Post webinar, all the participants joined for a mass prayer to Lord Jagannath and recited the prayer ‘Ahe Nila Saila’.