Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday announced that the Chief Ministers of all the states will be invited to witness the Hockey World Cup-2023 events in Odisha.
Addressing an all-party meeting here, he complimented the Union Government, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the cooperation of the Centre in the preparation of the Hockey World Cup.
“The honour of Odisha and the whole country is involved in organizing the Hockey World Cup of Hockey,” he said while urging everyone to work together and ensure the success of the event.
The leaders of various political parties participated in the discussion and expressed their gratitude for the government’s efforts towards the development of sports, saying that hosting the World Cup for the second time in a row has increased Odisha’s reputation throughout the world.
Attending the meeting, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan praised the state government for such an arrangement and urged everyone to work together so that 100 Olympians can emerge from Odisha on the occasion of the centenary celebration of the formation of a separate Odisha province in 2036.
He also assured the State Government’s to provide all necessary help to include holding hockey world cup twice in a row in the school curriculum, involving citizens for the cleanliness of both Bhubaneswar-Rourkela, promoting local sports and branding the Rourkela-Bhubaneswar railway for hockey.
Participating in the discussion, the Congress Legislature Party leader Narsingha Mishra proposed to build hockey stadiums in all the districts of the state.
Among others, Congress leader Santosh Singh Saluja, Biju Janata Party Vice Presidents Prasanna Acharya and Debi Prasad Mishra, BJD Organization Secretary Pranab Prakash Das, BJP State President Sameer Mohanty, CPI General Secretary Ramakrushna Panda, MLAs Taraprasad Bahinipati and Laxman Munda, CPI leader Alikishore Patnaik, State President of Socialist Party Ravi Behera, State President of AAP Nishikant Mahapatra, State President of RJD Hemant Kumar also participated in the discussion.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, Secretary to CM V K Pandian, Secretary Sports & Youth Services R Vineel Krishna and others were also present at the meeting.