Bhubaneswar: Prior to settling into their newly-assigned offices at the Lok Seva Bhawan, ministers are conducting office-warming ceremonies or pujas, seeking blessings before commencing their official duties.
On Friday, minister Rabi Narayan Naik performed rituals at his office in the state secretariat.“I have formally started working in my department office after organising a small puja,” said Naik.Other department officials were also in attendance during the rituals.
Similarly, industry minister Sampad Sawin organised an office-warming ceremony with a puja and a havan.
Earlier, other ministers also conducted these pujas before starting work from their offices at the state secretariat. “Other ministers, who have not started working from their department offices, may follow the trend and hold pujas in their offices. The BJP has formed the govt independently in the state for the first time. Most of the ministers are newly starting their careers and want to begin by conducting pujas,” said a BJP MLA.
Sources said that before fstarting their work , the ministers were meeting people and visiting their constituencies to hear grievances and collect suggestions from to provide better services.
Ministers of previous govts, including Padmanabh Behera and Samir Ranjan Dash, were also known to perform rituals before starting their work officially.

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