Odisha Chief Minister confers Excellence Awards in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, Oct 15: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today gave away awards to officers of State Government for excellence and innovation and public service delivery. The award carries a cash prize of Rs one lakh, citation and medal in case of individual category and Rs five lakh and citation in case of group category.

The officers who receive award from the Chief Minister are  Dharanidhar Patra, Deputy Director, Horticultrure, Mayurbhanj (Plantation);  Pradeep Kumar Naik, PD DRDA, Nuapada (Housing);  Binodini Panda, DPC, RET-SSA, Kandhamal (Orthopedic camp);  Akshya Kumar Panda, OIC DRDC, Kandhamal (Orthopedic Camp);  Samar Ranjan Behera, IE, Coordinator, RTE-SSA, Kandhamal(Orthopedic camp);  Bhaskar Chandra Turuk, PD DRDA, Subarnapur (Social Security Scheme);  Surya Narayan Das, Sub Collector, Subarnapur (Social Security Schemes);  Gopinath Sarka, Sub Collector, Birmaharajpur (Social Security Schemes) and Ashok Rout, DIO NIC, Subarnapur (Social Security Schemes). Chief Secretary Shri G. C. Pati and senior officers of the State Government were present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said, “I am glad to be here today at this presentation function of the Chief Ministers Award for excellence and innovation in governance and public service delivery for the year 2013-14.

This award is a prestigious recognition of excellence in public service, rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions to a more effective and responsive public administration in the State.  Through an annual competition, the State Government promotes the role, professionalism and viability of public service.  It encourages exemplary public service and recognizes that democracy and successful governance are built on a competent civil service.

We face the challenges of unequal access of social programmes and skewed distribution of benefits of the various economic programmes based on gender, caste and class.  Since 2012-13, the State Government has collected, shared and disseminated innovative practices in public governance through this award.

The State Government is committed to usher in significant governance reforms to achieve the ultimate goal of delivering services to the citizens in a transparent, hassle-free and time bound manner and making the administration citizen friendly and responsive.

This programme, no doubt, provides the civil servants a platform for introspection, exchange of experiences and discussion on common concerns.  The excellence of these awardees has been thoroughly examined by an independent Expert Committee and another high level Empowered Committee headed by the Chief Secretary.

The dedication and team work of the awardees restore citizens’ trust in Government institutions by bringing the administration to the doorsteps of the citizens, particularly the poor. We need to keep striving to move up the learning curve and enable the citizens, especially the women, poor and the tribal people, to reap the fruits of our collaborative creative and ingenuity. I congratulate the award winners and hope that they will continue to strive for innovation and excellence in governance and put in place the best practices for better public service delivery mechanism.”