| He served as the Chief Minister of Odisha from 23-04-1946 to 12-05-1950.Post independence he was the first Chief Minister of Odisha. In 1950 he became the cabinet minister of Industry & Commerce during the ministry of Jawahar Lal Nehru. He also became the Governor of Bombay in 1955. He again became the Chief Minister of Odisha in 19-10-1956.
Mahatab played an important lead role in uniting these states into bigger ones for which his name shall be written in golden words in the Indian history forever. His other works includes shifting of capital of Odisha from Cuttack to Bhubaneswar, plan for the building of Hirakud dam and plan for power generation at Duduma waterfall. He also owes credit in establishment of Odisha high court, inauguration of wireless center at Cuttack, establishing Utkal University at Bhubaneswar, establishment of steel plant at Rourkela etc He has also contributed a lot to the field of literature and journalism. He has written many books in English and Odia that includes history, novels, stories and poems. His book 'Gan Majlis' is a new step in the history of Odia literature. He started "Prajatantra" from 1923 as a weekly magazine. Now this is one of important daily newspapers existing in Odisha. He also started a magazine "Jhankar" in Odia literature and another children's magazine "Minabajar". For around five decades he played an important role in the politics of Odisha.He was a freedom fighter, socialist, educator, philosopher, historian, editor, administrator and a famous leader. He is popularly known as "Utkal Keshari". |