BHUBANESWAR: The prestigious Sarala Award was conferred on well-known litterateur Harihar Mishra at an event here on Sunday.The award, comprising a citation, a plaque and ` 2.5 lakh in cash, was presented to Mishra by Lalit Kala Akademi Chairman Ashok Vajpayee, the chief guest of the event. A number of literary personalities, apart people from various walks of life were present at the award presentation ceremony at the Rabindra Mandap auditorium. The Sarala Award, 32nd in the series, was presented to Mishra for his significant contribution towards enrichment of Oriya literature through his writings, in particular his anthology of poems “Dibya Ashantosh” penned in 2009. Mishra has written over 22 poems, three novels, as many short stories and essays, apart from analysing different works in Oriya literature. Two other eminent personalities, poet and noted classical vocalist Arup Lal Ghosh and eminent social worker Sruti Mohapatra were also felicitated on the occasion for their contribution to classical music and social work respectively. They received a cash award of ` 51,000, a plaque and a citation each. Sruti Mohapatra could not make it to the function due to ill-health. On the occasion, Vajpayee lamented that regional languages, including Oriya, and Hindi are dying out due to globalisation. “These days, youths are rarely interested to learn regional languages and this is due to the onslaught of globalisation. Twenty-five years back the situation was not same,” he said, adding that writers can play an important role in bringing about a change in the scenario. The Sarala Award has been instituted by Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust (IMPaCT), an organisation established by the IMFA Group. Santanu Acharya, working president of IMPaCT, spoke about the contributions made by the awardees in their respective fields while Harihar Mishra thanked IMPaCT for selecting him for this year’s award. Paramita Mohapatra of IMPaCT and poet Pratibha Satpathy were present.
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