Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will celebrate the Birth Anniversary Of Mahatma Gandhi in the state for two years.
A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat here on Tuesday.
“This meeting was held to discuss the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi which will be celebrated in a befitting manner in Odisha,” the Chief Minister told the media after the meeting.
The celebration will be held from October 2 this year to October 2, 2020.
Former Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang, leader of the Opposition Narasingh Mishra, Toursim and Culture minister Ashok Chandra Panda, freedom fighter and Gandhian leader Bhabani Charan Patnaik, chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, MPs, MLAs, members of the Council of Ministers, principal secretaries, freedom fighters, writers, journalists and academicians were present at the meeting.
The meeting finalized a host of programmes for the sesquicentennial birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation.
It was decided that the birth anniversary of Gandhiji will be celebrated in all schools, colleges and government offices on October 2.
During the two-year celebration, one Kasurba Gram Panchayat will be identified in each block.
Commemorating the visit of Mahatma Gandhi to Cuttack, a function will be organized in the Millennium city on March 23.
Besides, the statue of Mahatma Gandhi will be erected in all district headquarters as well as the places where he had visited while one major thoroughfare in the districts will be named as the Mahatma Gandhi Marg.
The meeting also decided to incorporate the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi in the Plus Two syllabus.
It was also decided that the state government will come up with a proposal to convene a special session of the State Assembly in 2019.
For the celebration of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Tourism and Culture department has formed five sub-committees to organize a series of state-level functions which will be taken up in consultation with the members of these committees
The Leader of the Opposition said even after 72 years of independence, the poor old men women over 60 years of age are not able to get two square meals every day. “Since the state has decided to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, I have requested the state government to increase their monthly old age pension from Rs 300 to at least Rs 1000,” he added.
