Chennai: Odisha is the first State government in the country to have extended the lockdown till 30 April.
The government announced that its health staff will be given four months salary as advance, as they are working round-the-clock against coronavirus. It is said that two top officials with their roots in Tamilnadu played a major role in the move.
They are V Karthikeyan Pandian, a 2000 batch IAS officer and Private Secretary to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik since 2011 and retired IAS officer R Balakrishnan who is the Principal Advisor (Special Initiative).
Karthikeyan Pandian is credited as the man behind the Odisha Chief Minister’s 5-T mantra (Team work, technology, transparency, transformation and time limit). He served as Collector of Ganjam, the CM’s home district. Under him, Ganjam emerged as the best performing district in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in 2008.
This is significant given the fact that Ganjam is known for high migration of labourers. Naveen brought Pandian to his office in May 2011 and the officer has been his trusted aide ever since. He is credited with efficient handling of Naveen’s works and is hardly visible in public or before the media.
Balakrishnan, a 1984-batch IAS officer, is known as efficient and honest bureaucrat. Under his leadership, Odisha could host international sports events like Asian Athletics Championship in 2017 and World Cup Men’s Hockey in 2018.
Odia language got recognition as a classical language in the country. He is the architect of establishment of Odia University. With his initiatives the State government started the Knowledge Hub Lecturer Series to update the knowledge of the bureaucrats and political leaders. His pet project –The Virtual Academy, a digital library of books on Odisha’s litrature and culture, has started getting hits from all over the world.