Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday lauded the efforts of sarpanches of Ganjam district, in controlling the COVID-19 situation.
In his interaction with the sarpanches through video conferencing he said that due to the management by the sarpanches, the various Panchayats in the district, Ganjam district was at the forefront of the ongoing fight against COVID-19."
The meeting was also attended by a number of officials including the chief secretary, additional chief secretary, other senior officials and the Ganjam District Collector.
Patnaik also thanked the sarpanches for successfully using the powers conferred on them to control the spread of the virus by imposing a lockdown in the rural areas, which helped the administration in managing Covid Care homes, COVID management testing and door to door survey.
The chief minister also instructed the district administration to extend all support to sarpanches to manage the ongoing situation.
"The current government has given more power to the panchayat under Biju Babu's ideology," he said while recalling ex-CM Biju Patnaik's efforts to empower the panchayats.
( With inputs from ANI )