Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday donated one year's salary to Governor and Chancellor of universities Ganeshi Lal for development of Utkal University. A former anthropology student of Utkal University, Pradhan had mooted the idea for setting up an alumni donation fund to be used for the development of the premier institute of the state while attending an alumni meet to mark the platinum jubilee celebration of the university in 2019. He had also appealed to old students of Vani Vihar to contribute to the alumni fund for the welfare of the students, teaching and non-teaching staff, and the infrastructure development of the university. The Governor congratulated Pradhan for his gesture.

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In a tweet, the office of the Governor said, "Hon'ble Governor congratulated Union Minister of @PetroleumMin Sri @dpradhanbjp for his gesture of benevolence towards his alma mater - Utkal University. Sri Pradhan has handed a year's personal salary to Hon'ble Govornor-cum-Chancellor, towards development of Vani Vihar.