'Canal Man of Odisha' Daitari Naik denies returning Padma Shri

Jun 30, 2019

Keonjhar (Odisha), June 30 (ANI): Padma Shri awardee Daitari Naik, who claims he is struggling to make his ends meet, denied returning the prestigious award on Saturday. Naik was conferred with a Padma Shri for single-handedly carving a three-kilometre-long canal from a mountain stream in Odisha. The clarification from Naik, popularly known as 'Canal Man of Odisha', came after reports surfaced of him planning to return the honour as he has not got any aid from the government. While speaking to ANI, Daitari Naik said,"Though I am facing difficulty in day to day life, there is no question of returning the award. The government must make efforts to reconstruct the canal so that all the villagers can be benefitted.""Padma Shri was given to me for my hard work and it is a matter of pride for me and my family. Why will I return it?," he asked. Naik also denied eating ant's eggs for survival."I never ate ant's eggs because I am not a fish. All this is false and fabricated news." However, Collector and District Magistrate of Keonjhar Ashish Thakare has denied the reports of Naik reeling under poverty."He and his wife are getting old age pension under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana. He had already been assisted under the Rural Housing scheme in the year 2013-14. His two sons have also been allotted two houses under Rural Housing in the year 2017-18 He has been covered under State governments Farmers Assistance Scheme-KALIA and has received the financial assistance. I request not to insult the Padma Shri awardee by creating such fabricated news," Thakre said.