Naveen distributes portfolios to new ministers

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who was on Wednesday sworn-in for his fifth consecutive term along with a 20-member ministry, distributed portfolios to his new ministers.

While the Chief Minister retained the key portfolios of Home, General Administration and any other Department specifically not assigned, Niranjan Pujari gets Finance and Excise while Bikram Keshari Arukha has retained the Forest and Environment and Parliamentary Affairs Department.

Prafulla Kumar Mallik also retains the Steel and Mines and Works Departments while he has also been made Minister of State for Home.

Ranendra Pratap Swain gets Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Welfare, and Co-operation while Padmanabha Behera has been given charge of Planning and Convergence, Commerce and Transport.

Pratap Jena has been assigned the Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water, Law, Housing and Urban Development Departments, and Arun Kumar Sahoo Agriculture and Farmers' Empowerment, Fisheries and Animal Resources Development and Higher Education.

Sudam Marndi will hold the portfolios of Revenue and Disaster Management, Susanta Singh of Rural Development, Labour and Employees' State Insurance, Naba Kisore Das Health and Family Welfare and Tukuni Sahu will hold Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti.

Among the ministers of state, Jagannath Sarka gets the key portfolios of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare, while Dibya Shankar Mishra will handle the Energy, Industries, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Departments.

Ashok Chandra Panda has been assigned Science and Technology, Public Enterprises, Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disability, Samir Ranjan Das School and Mass Education while Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi bags Tourism, Odia Language, Literature and Culture.

Premananda Nayak has got Skill Development and Technical Education, Raghunandan Das Water Resources, Information and Public Relations, and Padmini Dian has been assigned Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts.

Tusharkanti Behera will handle Electronics and Information Technology, Sports and Youth Services.

( With inputs from IANS )