Surat: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik will embark on his maiden visit to the city to attend ‘Odisha Mohatsava’ organized by Surat Odiya Pravasi Samaj in the migrant-dominated Amroli on December 17.His Biju Janta Dal (BJD) may not have any political base in Gujarat, but few Odiya Congress leaders are working overtime to make the event a huge success. More than a dozen Congress workers have been contacting Odiya people in Surat asking them to attend the event.Earlier in September, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan had also attended Odisha Parba that saw huge gathering of migrant people.Also Odisha’s finance Minister, Shashi Bhusan Behera had visited the city in July to examine the problems faced by the Odiya workers employed in the textile sector after the introduction of GST. After Behera’s visit, Patnaik had shot off a letter to union finance minister Arun Jaitely and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the address the demands faced by the textile sector and help tackle job losses due to GST.Office-bearers of Surat Odiya Pravasi Samaj said that beside Patnaik, all 13 BJD MLAs from Ganjam, Loksabha MPs and tourism minister Ashok Panda will attend Odisha Mohatsav in Surat. More than a dozen filmstars—all from ruling BJD—will also be a part of celebrations.Abhimanyu Sahu, Congress leader in city associated with Surat Odiya Pravasi Samaj told TOI: “Naveen Patnaik is our CM and we will make sure that his first visit to the city is a huge success. Around two lakh Odiyas settled in Surat are expected to attend the event.Recently, Patnaik had also written a letter to union civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu and railway minister Piyush Goyal requesting them to consider and convince private airline companies to provide direct flights between Bhubaneswar and Surat and introduce two daily trains between Behrampur and the city.Surat has nearly seven lakh people from Odisha, majority of whom are voters from Ganjam district and rest from other districts.. Most of these migrants are employed in the textile sector and industries of Hazira.

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