Bhubaneswar, Jan 27: The 72nd Republic Day was celebrated at Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan here on Tuesday with two eminent healthcare experts urging the people to uphold the Covid-19 protocol saying no one should carry any false impression that the pandemic had waned.

“We should not lower our guard thinking that the worst is over. We must continue with the practices of wearing mask, hand sanitization and maintenance of social distance as we did for the last few months as the pandemic is still posing danger,” Prof. Amit Banerjee, SOA’s Pro-Chancellor and eminent cardio-thoracic surgeon, said after unfurling the tricolor at the university’s corporate office.

The SOA Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ashok Kumar Mahapatra, who is an eminent neuro-surgeon, said no one should think that the danger has passed just because the vaccines have arrived.

“People appear to think that they can move around freely without any precaution since the vaccines are here and the number of new cases has decreased. It is not correct. Several countries are now having the third wave of the infection. We can’t afford to be complacent,” Prof. Mahapatra said.

Prof. Banerjee said people of Odisha should be proud of the fact that their state has the country’s richest cultural heritage. They should try to uphold this heritage and acquire more knowledge about it, he said.

The regular R-Day celebration, as conducted earlier at SOA, was done away with this year in view of the pandemic situation while the tri-colour was hoisted separately in different constituent institutions. Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare), also addressed the gathering.

Prof. Damodar Acharya, Chairman of SOA’s Advisory Board, Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Dean (Research and Development), Prof. Premananda Mohapatra, Dean (Post- Graduate Studies), Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Prof. Bijay Kumar Sahu, Dean, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Prof. Anup Kumar Samantaray, Dean, Institute of Business and Computer Studies, Prof. Sudam Chandra Si, Dean, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Prof. Neeta Mohanty, Dean, Institute of Dental Sciences besides senior officials were present.