Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who will turn 75 on Saturday, has decided not to celebrate his birthday in view of the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the state, a CMO statement said. This will be the fourth consecutive year when the BJD supremo will give his birthday celebrations a miss.
He did not allow any function on his birth anniversary last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Patnaik had chosen not to celebrate the occasion in 2019 due to Cyclone Fani and also in 2018 owing to Cyclone Titli. Both the storms had battered Odisha.
The CM urged members of the ruling BJD and his well-wishers not to visit his residence 'Naveen Niwas' on Saturday and appealed to them to organise blood donation camps during the day.
Patnaik did not want to celebrate his birthday as people of the state are passing through a very difficult situation due to the pandemic, the CMO said on Friday. Odisha registered 467 new Covid cases, which took the tally to 10,34,276, while six fresh fatalities pushed the coronavirus death toll to 8,279, a health department official said. The chief minister had also given his birthday celebrations a miss in 2016 as a mark of solidarity with the jawans killed in the Uri terror attack and in 2013 and 2014 when Odisha was hit by cyclonic storms Phailin and Hudhud respectively.