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Bhubaneswar, Oct 26: Poet Hrushikesh Mallick was honoured with Sarala Puraskar-2016, here, Wednesday. The event marked the 37th edition of the awards ceremony being organised by IMFA.
Also at the event, classical singer Gopal Chandra Panda was presented with the Ila Panda Sangeet Samman and artist the late Dinanath Pathi was honoured with Ila Panda Chitrakala Samman.
Hrushikesh Mallick was selected for the award for his work ‘Jeje Na Dekhitibha Bharat’ which had fetched him the Orissa Sahitya Akademi award. His prominent works include ‘Dhana Saunthi Jhia’, ‘Jeevannama’, ‘Ghata Akash’, and ‘Rebati’.
Hrushikesh said each poem was for him the beginning of a journey to show the different emotions of a human being. He said his works gave lessons to humankind and added that each poet should take the responsibility of giving lessons through his works. The Sarala award carries a purse of Rs5 lakh.
Dinanath Pathi was selected for the award for promoting Oriya art globally. Soubhagya Pathi, son of the late artist, received the Ila Panda award on his behalf. The award carries a cash prize of Rs1.5 lakh.
Hindustani classical singer Gopal Chandra Panda was selected for sangeet samman for his illustrious career as teacher at Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya spanning 27 years. He is the recipient of Kendriya Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar and the Orissa sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar.
Vice president of Kendriya Sahitya Akademi Chandrashekhar Kambara was chief guest at the function. He said the popularity of English was hampering the growth of regional writing.
IMFA Trustee Paramita Mohapatra lauded the respective advisory boards for the appropriateness of their selections for the awards.
President of Sarala advisory board Santanu Kumar Acharya said literature was getting marginalised and that awards such as these would encourage future writers.