Bhubaneswar: Padma Shri awardee Kamala Pujari passed away in the wee hours of Saturday at the age of 73.
She was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of SCB Medical College and Hospital from a Jeypore-based hospital two days back after her condition deteriorated. She died because of cardiac arrest in the wee hours of Saturday while undergoing treatment at SCB, sources said.
A team of four doctors from the Medicine Department, Nephrology Department, and Pulmonology Department was formed to treat Pujari. The team led by Medicine department professor Jayant Panda was looking after Pujari.
Hailing from Koraput, Pujari was known for promoting organic farming and preserving traditional paddy seeds. She has received several awards for her contributions, including the Padma Shri.
Interested in traditional farming, she learnt the basic techniques of preserving paddy from MS Swaminathan Research Foundation at Jeypore and has contributed a lot in the field of organic farming. She was awarded India’s fourth highest civilian, the Padma Shri in the year 2019 by President, Shri Ram Nath Kovind.
Pujari brought laurels for the State by winning the ‘Equator Initiative Award’ in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002.
She has the credit of preserving hundreds of indigenous varieties of paddy. Conserving paddy and promoting organic farming was not a pastime for her. After getting into this, she mobilized people, arranged group gatherings, and interacted with people to shun chemical fertilizers.
