Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will provide an enhanced honorarium of Rs 30,000 per month to each Padma Award recipient from the state from this month.
This was stated in a notification issued by the Odia Language, Literature & Culture Department on Thursday.
The awardees will be entitled to a monthly honorarium of Rs 30,000. The plan was outlined in a previous announcement by the Department.
As per sources, effective from the notification, the government announced that around 55 living Padma awardees from the state will receive a monthly honorarium of Rs 30,000. The move aims to recognise and support the contributions of these distinguished individuals to society. The enhanced honorarium is expected to cost the state’s exchequer around Rs two crore annually.
It may be noted that the previous government had in March last year promised a monthly honorarium of Rs 25,000 each for Padma Awardees ahead of the last general elections.
All the District Collectors and District Cultural Officers have been asked to send the details of the living Padma awardees (District Collector’s certificate, bank account details, IFSC Code) in the respective districts to the Directorate of the Odia, Language, Literature and Culture Department as soon as possible, so that all the living Padma awardees can get the assistance amount through the Direct Benefit Transfer, the sources added.