Cuttack: In accordance with the appeal of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, all Odia people worldwide, in one voice, sang the song “Bande Utkala Janani” the State Anthem at 5:30 PM today as a gesture of appreciation of the work by COVID warriors and to respect their sacrifice. 
Other than the Chief Minister, many politicians, officials, celebrities, organizations, and students participated in the initiative and shared their videos with the State Anthem on social media platforms. Srikant Behera, Sarojkant Nayak, Kushal Thadani, and Rajesh Poshak from London also shared their recitation of the song.
Bande Utkala Janani” was also sung at the State Police Headquarters in Cuttack in presence of DGP Abhay. It was attended by hundreds of police officers, including senior IPS officers of the headquarters. After the event, the DGP thanked the health workers, sarpanches, police, and journalists. 
The Commissionerate Police of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack live-streamed a “Vande Utkal Janani” Programme from Police Seva Bhawan here. A similar event was also held at Kalinga Stadium.
All important Railway stations in Odisha under East Coast Railway (ECoR) jurisdiction participated and organized functions for mass singing and playing of song Bande Utkala Janani. Even the members of Khimji Group saluted the brave COVID warriors of the State by reciting “Bande Utkala Janani”. It is worthwhile to mention that “Bande Utkala Janani” is an Odia patriotic poem written by Kantakabi Laxmikanta Mohapatra. It was declared the State Anthem when Odisha became a separate province on April 1, 1936.
Chief Minister Patnaik expressed his gratefulness to the people of Odisha and all the Odias living in the nook and corner of the globe for their recital of ‘Bande Utkal Janani’ with unprecedented enthusiasm as a mark of respect to the COVID Warriors. 
‘This unity of Odias in such an extraordinary situation has given courage to all Corona Warriors’, he added. And he has also extended gratitude to all political parties for their generous cooperation in the gesture.
