India News | Odisha Prays in Memory of COVID Warriors
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Odisha on Wednesday joined Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a prayer for paying tribute to frontline workers who laid down their lives fighting against COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
Bhubaneswar, Aug 5 (PTI) Odisha on Wednesday joined Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a prayer for paying tribute to frontline workers who laid down their lives fighting against COVID-19 pandemic in the state.
The call given by the chief minister was welcomed by one and all with people at their respective places observing a minute's silence at 6 pm.
Leading the prayer, Patnaik said, "Odisha has crossed 25,000 plus recoveries which would not have been possible without the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of thousands of COVID warriors. We will not allow their sacrifice to go in vain."
While the chief minister led the prayer through video conferencing, the chief secretary was in Lok Seva Bhawan and the DGP led the prayer at the State Police Headquarters in Cuttack.
Governor Ganeshi Lal also joined the prayer, followed by an oath-taking programme conducted by Patnaik, to honour and commemorate the supreme sacrifice of COVID warriors, a Raj Bhavan official informed.
Ministers, officers, journalists, students and people from all sections of society participated in the prayer.
As many as 25 frontline workers, including health workers, police personnel, panchayati raj institution functionaries, anganwadi and ASHA workers and teachers have died in COVID Hospitals, COVID Care Centres and COVID Care Homes.
The prayer was organised on the day in which the recovery of COVID-19 patients reached the 25,000-mark in the state. Reports of people joining the chief minister to honour sacrifice of frontline workers were received from across the state.
The prayer was followed by an oath-taking programme where Patnaik administered a pledge to the people to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines issued by both the state and the central government.
"Adhering to the COVID norms is the best tribute to the warriors who made supreme sacrifice," Patnaik said.
DGP Abhay said, "Six of our personnel have died while on COVID duty. I appeal to all of you to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines to defeat an invisible enemy like novel coronavirus."
DG, Fire Service, Satyajit Mohanty said, fire personnel will fight against the infection and encourage frontline workers.
The sports department organised an event at Kalinga Stadium where many people participated in the prayer maintaining social distancing.
Meanwhile, Ganjam district magistrate-cum collector V A Kulange said, the district has lost three Corona warriors, including a policeman.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)