BHUBANESWAR: The first Guru Prasad Mohapatra memorial lecture will be held at Jaydev Bhawan here on Saturday evening. Organised by Guruprasad Mohapatra Foundation, the memorial lecture titled ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat: Opportunity for Odisha’ will be delivered by Lieutenant General CP Mohanty (retired). A former Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Mohanty will speak extensively on defense production opportunities in Odisha under Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme.
State Advocate General Ashok Kumar Parija and member Board of Revenue, Odisha GVV Sarma will attend the memorial lecture. Dr Guru Prasad Mohapatra was a distinguished bureaucrat of Gujarat cadre. He had a successful career in the Centre and Gujarat as Chairman of Airports Authority of India and Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
He was credited with successfully implementing the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative during the beginning of Covid-19 pandemic. He tested positive for the virus while on duty and succumbed to post-Covid complications in June 2021. Dr Mohapatra was awarded Padma Shri posthumously in January, 2022.