Bhubaneswar: Ganeshi Lal was sworn in as Governor of Odisha at a function organised at the Raj Bhavan, here Tuesday.
Chief Justice of Odisha High Court Justice Vineet Saran administered the oath of office to Lal in the swearing-in ceremony held at the Abhishek Hall.
The proceedings started with the permission and then reading out of the Warrant of Appointment received from President of India by Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Minister for Oil and Petroleum Gas and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan, Judges of High Court, ministers from Odisha and Haryana government, Leader of Opposition in Odisha Assembly, State BJP president, senior officers of state administration, were among others present on the occasion. The wife and other family members of Lal also attended the ceremony.
The Governor was given a guard of honour by the infantry division of the Odisha State Police, at the end of the ceremony.
Lal succeeds Satya Pal Malik who was holding additional charge of Odisha along with his own as Governor of Bihar. Lal was a Professor of Mathematics. He was a former Minister of Haryana during 1996-99.
Earlier in the day, Lal visited Srimandir and paid obeisance to Lord Jagannath in Puri.
Lal, his spouse and several of his relatives reached the 12th century shrine at 11.45 am. Shree Jagannath Temple Administration’s (SJTA) chief administrator Pradeep Jena, collector Aravind Agrawal,superintendent of police Sarthak Kumar Sarangi and other officials welcomed Lal at the shrine’s Lions’ Gate.
Jena presented a traditional Khandua pata to Lal.
The governor and his family spent around 25 minutes at Srimandir, sources said.
“I am extremely happy to have darshan of Lord Jagannath before assuming office. I had earlier visited the shrine twice,” Lal told the media after coming out of Srimandir.
Responding to a query on his assignment in Odisha, Lal said he would try to reach out to the unreachable and safeguard the vulnerable people.
Sources, meanwhile, claimed that as many as 80 relatives of Lal visited the shrine along with him. “Many of the high-profile devotees carried mobile phones into the shrine in violation of norms,” said a source.
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