Jeypore: “I know that I have been selected for the Padma Shri, but don’t know what it is,” said Kamala Pujari, who will be honoured with the fourth highest civilian award this year. “I am ill, so I am unable to speak more,” Kamala added.
A tribal from Koraput district, Kamala was chosen for the award for her contributions to the field of agriculture. Her home district is celebrating her success, and she is flooded with accolades from various quarters.
Kamala is hospitalised here. She was admitted to the district headquarters hospital (DHH) here Friday night, after her condition deteriorated.
Doctors have declared that she is better now after several medical tests. A five-member team led by chief district medical officer (CDMO) Dr Kaliprasad Behera is treating the Padma Shri winner.
Kamala was shifted to the Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital (SLNMCH) in Koraput for better treatment Sunday night.
Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Chandra Sarathi Behera, Collector K. Sudarshan Chakravarthy, State Planning Board Member Iswar Chandra Panigrahi, Sub-Collector Loknath Dal Behera and the district’s political leaders visited the hospital and congratulated Kamala.
Simialrly, Jeypore MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati Monday visited the SLNMCH to take note on the health condition of the Padma awardee.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced the names of the five new members of the State Planning Board including Kamala in March, 2018.
She was engaged in women empowerment activities and was conducting a drive for the protection of forests for a long time.
Initially, Kamala had launched ‘Trinath Thakura Bana Surakhya Samiti,’ a social organisation consisting of 21 women from her locality, and since then it had been working for protecting forests.
Kamala had become famous by preserving hundreds of local varieties of paddy and promoting organic farming.
She is also known for having persuaded villagers in her area to give up chemical fertilizers and adopt organic farming.
Kamala had also won the Equator Initiative Award in Johannesburg for her contributions in promoting local varieties of paddy in 2002. The Centre honoured her with the ‘Krushi Bisharad’ award in 2003.
The state government had named a hostel at the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology after Kamala.
Another Padma award winner from Odisha, Daitari Nayak, focused on irrigation. Nayak, who hails from Uparabaitarani village under Bansapal block in Keonjhar district, said he would be happy if more areas get irrigation facilities.
PNN