‘Prakruti Mitra’, ‘Prakruti Bandhu Samman’ Awards Presented In Odisha’s Berhampur

Berhampur: Twelve institutions in Ganjam district were awarded awarded ‘Prakruti Mitra’ and 11 persons the ‘Prakruti Bandhu Samman’ for their contribution towards conservation of trees here on Thursday.

The institutions which were awarded included Balaji Bidyapitha, Kanisi; Sai Gurukul Residential School, Bhanjanagar; Onslow High School, Chhatrapur; Govt Girls’ High School, Hinjilicut; Golabandha Bana Surakshya Samiti, Buguda; Sri Satya Sai Seva Samiti, Digapahandi.

Dr Ram Krushna Sahu, Gitanjali Tripathy, Khadal Nayak and others were recepients of ‘Prakruti Bandhu Samman’.

The awards were given during the 66^th Wild Life Week celebration by the District Forest and Environment department. The award function, which is normally held in the state capital, was organised in the district due to COVID-19 pandemic situation, official sources said.

Sub-division level ‘Biju Patnaik Award for Wildlife Conservation 2020′ was presented to Swadhin Kumar Sahu (Berhampur), Maheswar Barad (Chhatrapur) and Dilip Kumar Dash (Bhanjanagar).

RCCF Prasant Kumar Mishra, who attended the function as chief guest, said the COVID-19 impact is less in those areas where changes in the climate is less and cited the example at Russia, Taiwan and Uttarakhand in India. Other senior officers of the Forest department were present.