BHUBANESWAR: Intensifying its efforts to integrate people of Kotia in Odisha and the Jagannath culture, the state government is all set to send a group of ministers led by Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari, to join them in their celebration of Rath Yatra.
Confirming this on Thursday, Pujari said the composition of the ministers’ team will be finalised by Friday. He added that people of Kotia have sought his presence as well as other ministers in the Rath Yatra which is celebrated a day after the chariot festival in Puri.
“The people of Kotia have extended an invitation to me and other ministers to pull chariots with them during this year’s Rath Yatra. I have accepted their invitation. A few other ministers will also join the festival.
The participation of School and Mass Education minister Nityananda Gond, Steel and Mines minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena and Fisheries and Animal Resources minister Gokulananda Mallik is confirmed. We will let you know how many ministers will go to Kotia,” Pujari told TNIE.
The Kotia group of villages under Pottangi block of Koraput district on the border of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh are locked in a long-standing dispute owing to the constant efforts by the neighbouring state to assert administrative control.
The state government in a fresh attempt to resolve the boundary dispute had last month constituted a 16-member high-level committee under the chairmanship of Revenue minister Pujari. The committee has been tasked to define the special agency structure, hierarchical pattern, funding pattern, convergence of various schemes for all-round development of the area along with a comparative analysis of the schemes offered by the bordering state.
Pujari has been leading the government’s efforts to bring Kotia into Odisha’s mainstream. As the head of the high-level committee, he has stated focus on taking the administration to the doorstep of the people of the area by implementing different welfare measures. The visit of the group of ministers and celebrating Rath Yatra with the people is an effort to win their hearts and strengthen their allegiance to Odisha.