Bhubaneswar: Naveen Patnaik, who on Wednesday took office as Odisha Chief Minister for a record fifth consecutive term, will hold the important Home and General Administration and Public Grievances (GA &PG).
The Chief Minister allotted the following portfolios to his 11 Cabinet Ministers – Niranjan Pujari (Finance, Excise), Bikram Keshari Arukh (Forests &Environment, Parliamentary Affairs), Prafulla Mallik (Steel and Mines and Works), Ranendra Pratap Swain ()Food Supplies & Consumer Welfare, Co-operation), Padmanabha Behera (Planning & Convergence, Commerce and Transport), Pratap jena (Panchayati Raj & Drinking Water, Law, Housing and Urban Development), Arun Kumar Sahoo (Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment, Fisheries & Animal Resources Development, and Higher Education), Sudam Marndi (Revenue & Disaster Management), Susanta Singh (Rural Development, Labour & Employees’ State Insurance), Nabakishore Das (Health and Family Welfare) and Tukuni Sahu (Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti).
At least nine Ministers of State (Independent charges) were also given portfolios. They are Jagannath Sarka (ST & SC Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare), Dibya Shankar Mishra (Energy, Industries, Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises), Ashok Chandra Panda (Science & Technology, Public Enterprises, Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disability), Samir Ranjan Das (School and Mass Education), Jyoti Prakash Nayak (Tourism; Odia Language, Literature &Culture) Premananda Nayak (Skill Development & Technical Education), Raghunandan Das (Water Resources, Information & Public Relations), Padmini Dian (Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts) and Tusharkanti Behera (Electronics & Information Technology, Sports and Youth Services).
Further, Cabinet Minister Prafulla Mallik was given additional charge of Home portfolio (MoS) with his original charge of Steel and Mines.