BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Tuesday appointed senior BJP leader Shovana Mohanty as the chairperson of Odisha State Commission for Women (OSCW).
The government also appointed four other members of the commission. They include Prativa Satpathy from Cuttack, Urmila Mohapatra from Bhubaneswar, Kalpana Mallick from Kendrapara and Mukta Sahu from Bargarh.
The post of OSCW chairperson was lying vacant since the last 10 months after the BJP government removed Namita Behera, a BJD appointee, from the chair in November last year.
A notification issued by the Women and Child Development department said Mohanty, who hails from Karanjia in Balasore district, will be in office for a period of three years from the date of her appointment on August 5.
Mohanty thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and state BJP president Manmohan Samal for placing their faith in her. “I will put in all my efforts to ensure that the neglected and oppressed women of the state get speedy justice,” she said.
The government has also appointed Babita Patra as the chairperson of Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR). Patra, who belongs to Berhampur, will also be in office for a period of three years. The OSCPCR has also got six new members in Sukeshi Oram from Keonjhar, Kalpana Lenka from Rourkela, Chandana Das, Kasturi Mishra and Sujata Nayak from Bhubaneswar, and Manasmita Khuntia from Bhadrak.
In March this year, the government had removed Mandakini Kar from the post of chairperson along with five members of the commission.