Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik continues to be the richest among the Ministers in the State possessing assets worth Rs 64.26 crore.
As on March 31, 2019, Patnaik possessed properties worth over Rs 64.26 crore, including movable property of around Rs 62, 66,663.93 and immovable property worth around Rs 63,64,15,261, revealed a statement of assets of Council of Ministers issued by the Chief Minister’s Office late on Tuesday evening.
Patnaik has a farmland and a building at Tikrikhera village in Faridabad worth Rs 10, 75, 51,071 and two-three share of the Naveen Niwas valuing Rs 9,52,46,190 in Bhubaneswar. He has 50 per cent share in parental property at the APJ Abdul Kalam Road in New Delhi valued at Rs 43, 36, 18,000.
The statement informed that the CM has not repaid a loan of Rs 15 lakh he had borrowed from his sister Gita Mehta a few years back.
Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water Minister Pratap Jena is found to be the second richest Minister owning properties worth Rs 9,92,44,775, including shares of his wife and daughter. His assets have grown around Rs 4.5 crore in a year, including movable property of Rs 1,60,30,775.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das and his family possess prompt cash of Rs 32 lakh, bank deposits of Rs 1 crore and fixed deposits of over Rs 2 crore. Interestingly, he is the only Minister to have kept two revolvers and a rifle.
Responding to a media query, he said, “I have kept licenced revolvers since my college days. I have kept them for sake of fashion and not for my protection,” he said.
Sports and IT Minister Tusharkanti Behera emerged the poorest Minister with assets of Rs 26 lakh. He has a 4,800-sq ft land at Chandaka and a car worth Rs 5 lakh.