Odisha gets new health minister following fire tragedy at hospital

Odisha finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat was given additional charge of the health and welfare department after Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak resigned on moral grounds in the wake of a hospital fire that killed 25 people.

Odisha finance minister Pradip Kumar Amat was given additional charge of the health and welfare department after Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak resigned on moral grounds in the wake of a hospital fire that killed 25 people.

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik visits the patients of SUM Hospital where a fire broke out this week on October 17, 2016, admitted at AIIMS in Bhubaneswar. (PTI)

A release from the Chief Minister’s Office said that the information and public relations portfolio, which was held by Nayak, was assigned to forest and environment minister, Bikram Keshari Arukha.

Arukha, considered the strong man from Ganjam, chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s home district, already holds the parliamentary affairs portfolio.

Both Amat and Arukha are senior ministers in Patnaik’s cabinet.

Amat, a seasoned politician, had earlier been in charge of many important ministries apart from being Speaker of the Odisha assembly.

Patnaik announced the change in portfolio hours after Nayak tendered his resignation on Friday night.