Bhubaneswar: A total of 24 MLAs will be felicitated with the Best Legislator Award by Odisha Legislative Assembly (OLA). The selected MLAs will bag the award in three categories for their notable work and performance.
The three categories are Pandit Nilakantha Samman, Utkalmani Gopabandhu Samman and Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Samman.
The MLAs are chosen by the OLA selection committee. The best legislators from the year 2009 to 2016 will be awarded in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Speaker Pradip Amat. The award has not been given since last nine years.
According to the sources, Pandit Nilakantha Samman will be given to MLAs Bishnu Charan Das for the year 2009, Arun Kumar Sahoo for 2010, Pravat Kumar Biswal for 2011, Dr Prafulla Majhi for 2012, Amar Prasad Satpathy for 2013, Pramila Mallick for 2014, Ranendra Pratap Swain for 2015 and Dr Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik for the year 2016.
Likewise, Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Samman will be given to MLAs Surendra Nath Naik for the year 2009, Bimbadhar Kuanr for 2010, Nityananda Pradhan for 2011, Umesh Chandra Swain for 2012, Bikram Keshari Barma for 2013, Rajendra Dholakia for 2014, Surendranath Pramanik for 2015 and Chakradhar Paika for the year 2016.
Utkalmani Gopabandhu Samman will be felicitated to Sanjay Dasburma for the year 2009, Pritiranjan Gharai for 2010, Samir Ranjan Dash for 2011, Prashant Kumar Muduli for 2012, Bijay Kumar Mohanty for 2013, Dr Raseswari Panigrahi for 2014, Captain Dibya Shankar Mishra for 2015 and Pradip Purohit for the year 2016.
