BHUBANESWAR: Harekrushna Mahtab was the soul of freedom movement in Odisha and development of the State, said Governor of Andhra Pradesh and permanent president of the Dr Harekrushna Mahtab Jayanti Committee Biswa Bhusan Harichandan in a video message on the occasion of his 121st birth anniversary. Harichandan said besides development of Bhubaneswar as the Capital City, Mahtab had worked for developing education and agriculture in the State.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik paid tributes to Mahtab on his birth anniversary. Mahtab’s contribution towards formation of modern Odisha, journalism and literature will always be remembered, he tweeted.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro, Higher Education Minister Arun Sahoo, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik and State BJP president Sameer Mohanty also paid tributes to Mahtab. Permanent secretary of the committee and Congress MLA Suresh Routray requested the Speaker to place a demand before the Centre for conferring Bharat Ratna on Mahtab.