The Bhasa Suraksha Sammilani, a body fighting for promotion of Odia language, elected its new office-bearers on Thursday.
During the special State level convention which was held here on Tuesday, the Odia language lovers’ outfit, unanimously elected BJD Rajya Sabha member Baishnab Parida as president of the Sammilani. Earlier, Parida was the convenor of the body.
Also, Prof Nityananda Satpathy, Justice Hrudaya Ballav Das, Bijayananda Singh, Dandapani Mohapatra, Kailash Chandra Tikayatray and Bidyadhar Barik were elected as vice-presidents while Natabar Mohanty, Saket Ratai, Amitabh Khilar and Suryamani Khuntia were elected as secretary. Sarat Chandra Bhadra was elected as treasurer.
This apart, a 43-member executive body and 17-member advisory board was also constituted to protect and promote of the regional language.
Noted linguist Debi Prasanna Pattnayak, Satkadi Hota among many luminaries were enroled in the advisory board.The Sammilani has been demanding implementation of the Orissa Official language Act 1954.