KENDRAPARA: For 72-year-old war veteran Duryodhana Mohanty, polls are another innings after a life dedicated to the Indian Army.
Duryodhana, who hails from Barunadia panchayat under Rajkanika block of Kendrapara, served as sarpanch in 2007 and 2012. He is back in the fray again and filed his papers for sarpanch post on Friday. He was unable to contest for the same in 2017 as the post was reserved for SC candidates.
Duryodhana had joined the Army in 1970 at the age of 20 and went on to participate in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. During his 32-year long service, he served in Mizoram, Assam, Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir.
After his retirement in 2002, he settled in his village and was elected sarpanch of the gram panchayat for two terms from 2007 to 2017.
During his tenure, he was instrumental in the construction of pucca roads and providing piped water supply to the panchayat. “I have thrown my hat into the ring for the third time to continue serving the people of my panchayat and try to weed out corruption at the grass-root level so that people benefit from development schemes,” said Duryodhana.
Duryodhana is also the president of Kharasrota River Banchao Sangram Samiti (KRBSS), the outfit opposing the proposed Rs 754-crore mega drinking water project.