Coinciding with the 149th birth anniversary of renowned Telugu linguist Gidugu Ramamurthy Pantulu, the Telugu Language Day was celebrated at the Prakasam Bhavan on Monday.
Joint Collector P. Lakshminarasimhum called for concerted effort to nurture the Telugu language. “We need to realise the importance of mother tongue and promote it even while respecting other languages''.
He recalled the contribution of Ramamurthy Pantulu, who campaigned for popularising “functional Telugu'' spoken by common people instead of the language spoken in those days by pundits. Telugu poets including Gurujada Appa Rao and Kandukuri Veerasalingam were hailed on the occasion.
He underscored the need for students developing interest on great Telugu literary works. He highlighted the steps taken by the district administration to communicate in Telugu.
Special judicial magistrate K. Balakrishna Reddy and P. Parvathacharyulu were given the Telugu Bhasha Puraskaram.
Telugu Pandits E. Purushotam and E. Anjaneyulu were honoured. Two students Macherla Venkateswara and V. Terish Babu who excelled in the Secondary school examinations in Telugu were given mementoes.
