Govt assistance for ailing Pratihari

Bhubaneswar: The state government has provided a financial assistance of `1 lakh to veteran theatre artiste and director Ramchandra Pratihari, who was admitted to a private hospital here due to health complications. Additional secretary of Odia Language Literature and Culture department Bijay Kumar Nayak met Pratihari in the hospital and provided the assistance through a cheque. Notably, doctors had advised Pratihari, 82, to arrange `2 lakh for an operation. However, the veteran artiste was facing a tough task to arrange the money for his treatment. Orissa POST had published a report on Pratihari’s hospitalisation and his difficulties to arrange the money in its August 13 edition.