Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister Himachal Pradesh honouring Moulu Ram Thakur with Dr.Yashwant Singh Parmar State Award for Culture at Shimla today.
Virbhadra Singh, Chief Minister honoured Shri Rajendra Rajan with Chander Dhar Sharma Guleri State Sahitya Samman for his short story collection in Hindi “Band Darwaze†and Shri Molu Ram Thakur with Dr. Y.S. Parmar State Award for his Pahari book “Vedic Arya aur Himachal†with shawl, citation and memento. He announced the enhancement of the award money from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 51,000 with immediate effect at the State- level award ceremony organized by Language, Art and Culture Department here today at Peterhoff. The amount of State Academy Awards has
also been increased from Rs. 11,000 to Rs. 31,000 by the Chief Minister.
Virbhadra Singh said that Government had created a corpus of Rs. 12.50 crore in the State sector to cater to the ceremonial and traditional system of devotional services in the prominent religious shrines which had surrendered their land holdings in the process of implementation of Land Ceiling Act in the State and had been left with no source of income. He said that identification process of all such religious shrines was in progress and likely to be completed in the near future.
Chief Minister said that 12th Finance Commission had the provision of Rs 10 crore for the prevention, restoration and maintenance of the ancient monuments of historical importance to keep the heritage alive for generations to come. He said that the State Government was spending Rs. 10 crore over the restoration of Gaiety Theatre at Shimla and this project was nearing completion. He said that other historical buildings would also be taken up for restoration in the next phase and the process was to continue in future as well in different parts of the State.
Virbhadra Singh assured the writers and artists that their interests would be safeguarded by his Government and due recognition would be extended to refine and exhibit their talent in the right perspective. He directed the authorities to make concerted efforts to identify all forms of the art and initiate effective steps for their presentation and promotion.
Chief Minister also released the books titled “Chamba –A Celestial Valleyâ€, “The temples of Himachal Pradesh†and “Himachal Pradesh Ke Sanskar Geet†brought out by the Language, Art and Culture Department on the occasion.
Chief Minister Himachal Pradesh honouring Rajendra Rajan with Chanderdhar Sharma Guleri Award for Literature at Shimla today.
