Pankaj Mohanty OCA president

Bhubaneswar: Pankaj Lochan Mohanty took charge as Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) president after he was elected unopposed for the post. Earlier, he had served as the president of the OCA from 2019 to 2022.

The OCA president post was lying vacant following the resignation of Pranab Prakash Das, a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader.

Das was elected the president of OCA in October 2022 and resigned from the post in December 2024.

Meanwhile, the OCA replied to the show cause notice issued by Odisha government over the floodlight malfunction during the India-England ODI at Barabati Stadium on February 9, saying the Association will take steps to stop repetition of such an incident.

The second ODI between the two countries was disrupted for around 30 minutes as floodlights in one of the towers was not functioning. The State government on February 10 issued a show cause notice to the OCA seeking a reply within 10 days.

Speaking to mediapersons in Cuttack, Pankaj Lochan Mohanty, said, “We have submitted our reply to the State government. To ensure that such an incident does not happen again during such important matches, we have decided to deploy two generator sets to supply power to each floodlight.”

His predecessor Sanjay Behera had told reporters earlier that the backup generators could not reach the floodlight tower immediately because the players’ bus was parked near it.

“The driver was not in the bus and he was called up and asked to remove the vehicle after which the generators could reach the tower and the power was restored,” Behera had said.

Mohanty said that after that ODI, another important match was held till 1.30 am and there was no disturbance. “The BCCI has not sought any report in this matter,” the new OCA chief said.