Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 19
The Advisory Board of the Punjab Languages Department, which held its meeting here today, announced the Punjabi Sahit Shiromani Puraskar for the eminent writer, Giani Gurdit Singh.
This is the most prestigious literary award given every year by the Department for contribution to Punjabi literature.
Giani Gurdit Singh is known in the literary world for his book ‘Mera Pind’ that is considered a classic in Punjabi literature. The winner of this award gets Rs 2.5 lakh in cash. However, this amount is expected to be enhanced to Rs 5 lakh this year as the board made a recommendation to the government in this regard at today’s meeting. The award will be given in the first week of November.
Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Deputy Chief Minister, presided over the meeting of the board. As many as 12 other eminent persons representing different languages and fields were also selected for the Shiromani awards. The Shiromani Punjabi Sahitkar Puraskar has gone to Gurdev Singh Rupana and the Shiromani Hindi Sahitkar Purskar to Dr Phul Chand Manav.
Dr K.L. Zakir has been selected for the Shiromani Urdu Sahitkar Puraskar and Dr Inder Mohan Singh for the Shiromani Sanskrit Sahitkar Puraskar. Darshan Singh Buttar has been selected for the Shriomani Punjabi Kavi Puraskar and G.S. Rial for the Punjabi Lekhak and Critic Puraskar.
Pakistani writer Bushra Ezaz gets the Shiromani Punajbi Sahitkar Puraskar meant for writers from abroad and Dr Vanita the Shiromani Punajbi Sahitkar Puraskar for writers outside Punjab.
Prem Bhushan Goel has been given the Shiromani Punjabi Bal Sahit Lekhak Puraskar and B.S. Bir the Shiromani Punjabi Patarkar Puraskar. Puran Shahkoti has been selected for the Shiromani Singer Puraskar. Inderjit Hassanpuri has been chosen for the Shiromani Natak Puraskar.
