‘Focus on work, not on greetings, congratulatory activities’: Odisha CM to govt officials ahead of ‘English New Year’

Odisha government offices will have no New Year celebrations this year as Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Tuesday announced that government work would proceed as usual on January 1.

Taking to X, the Chief Minister wished everyone a happy “English New Year” and requested officials and his colleagues not to visit his office to extend New Year greetings or congratulations.

“I also request government employees not to participate in greeting and congratulatory activities during office hours, but to focus on office work. The goodwill of the people of Odisha, as well as my well-wishers, has always been with me. For that, I am grateful to all,” he wrote in the post.

Majhi also asked those visiting his official residence to extend greetings not to bring any gifts or flower bouquets. “Only your goodwill and blessings are my sole aspiration,” he said.

In the previous years, officials would make a beeline to the offices of the Chief Minister, ministers and top bureaucrats at the Lok Seva Bhawan to extend greetings on the first day of the New Year. There were similar practices in government offices across the state.

Police in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have also restricted parties in bars and clubs after 12 am on the first day of the New Year.

Meanwhile, the deities at the Puri Jagannath Temple will not be kept “fully awake” past midnight on the New Year, as the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration has announced that the temple would be closed at 11 pm on December 31 and be reopened at 2 am on January 1. The decision has been taken following outcry over allowing devotees for darshan throughout the night on New Year’s Day, keeping the deities “awake”.

The Puri district administration has also cancelled leaves of government employees till January 4, expecting a massive influx of devotees and visitors to the town. The administration has said the officials would be assigned duty to facilitate smooth darshan for people visiting the holy town. Massive police force has also been deployed to maintain law and order in the town.