Preparations are on in full swing in Odisha for the swearing-in ceremony on June 10 as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won a majority in the Assembly state elections for the first time dismissing the decades-old Naveen Patnaik government.
"The new government will be sworn in in the next few days. We are expecting senior guests, VIPs to attend the occasion. More than 30,000 people will attend the swearing-in ceremony. Eminent guests from different sectors, people from various sections of the society will also participate," Odisha Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena told ANI on Saturday.
Elaborating on the preparations, the Chief Secretary further said that work has been allotted to all senior officials in the state to receive the important delegates who would be arriving at the state for the ceremony.
"The state administration is gearing up. We had two rounds of reviewing in the last two days. We are reviewing progress of work. We are reviewing progress of work. We have distributed work among senior officers starting from reception of important guests and delegates from outside the state who would come by air, train, road; how to receive them. We have also planned everything for reception of people coming from within the state...the entire logistics have been worked out," Jena said.
Speaking about the security arrangements given the large number of guests who are expected to pour in the state for the swearing-in ceremony, Jena said, "Security arrangements have been made. Since we are expecting more down 30,000 special traffic arrangements have to be made. Commissioner of Police, DG, Intelligence- all are working it out."
Earlier in the day, Odisha Director General of Police (DGP) said that adequate number of forces will be deployed for the grand event and the Special Protection Group has already arrived.
"The PM is coming for the oath-taking ceremony. So, we are making arrangements. The Special Protection Group team has already arrived. We are deploying a sufficient number of forces. We are expecting many VIPs, CMs, MoS, and other VIPs to attend the function. So accordingly, we will be making security arrangements," said Arun Kumar Sarangi, Director General of Police (DGP), Odisha.
"There will be arrangements for a traffic diversion plan... We are hopeful that everything will pass smoothly. We have not received any confirmation from any state government. But we are expecting that by this evening, we will be receiving confirmation from various governments about the participation of the CMs," he added.
After suffering a significant defeat in the State Assembly and Parliamentary elections, the 24-year tenure of BJD chief Naveen Patnaik as Chief Minister of Odisha concluded. He submitted his resignation to Odisha Governor Raghubar Das at the Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party secured 78 seats in the 147-seat assembly, surpassing the majority mark of 74, while the BJD secured 51 seats. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP performed well by securing 20 out of the 21 parliamentary seats in the state, with the remaining one seat won by the Congress.
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