Govt. honours writer Prapanjan, gives cash award of ₹10 lakh

Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy recently announced that a state-of-the-art cultural centre would be set up in Puducherry at a cost of ₹14 crore for holding literary, cultural and other events. The Central government’s funding in the project will be ₹9 crore of which ₹6 crore has already been released while the Puducherry government will contribute the remaining amount, he said.

Mr. Narayanasamy was addressing a meeting organised by the Department of Art and Culture of Puducherry Government to felicitate Tamil writer Prapanjan.

The Chief Minister said that the government would also recommend the name of Mr. Prapanjan to the Central government for a Padma Shri award during Independence Day. He also paid rich tributes to Mr. Prapanjan for propagating and popularising the cultural, historical and literary features of Puducherry.

Mr. Narayanasamy emphasised the need for honouring progressive writers from Puducherry who had made ceaseless contributions to the world of literature. The felicitation of Mr. Prapanjan is a step in this direction, he said.

The Chief Minister pointed out that except the diaries penned by Ananda Rangapillai on the events relating to Puducherry that took place during the French period, no volume has been available so far highlighting the special features of Puducherry.

Honorary post

The government will appoint Mr. Prapanjan with an honorary post in the Department of Tamil Development to contribute and bring to focus the historical aspects of Puducherry during the French period.

Earlier, the Chief Minister handed over a cash award to the tune of ₹10 lakh to Mr. Prapanjan for his contribution to Tamil literature.

Mr. Prapanjan, who thanked the government, said that he had proposed to write a book about Puducherry’s link with Chola and other dynasties.

Speaker V. Vaithilingam, Tourism Minister Malladi Krishna Rao, Parliamentary Secretary to Chief Minister K. Lakshminarayanan, Deputy Speaker V.P. Sivakolunthu, Secretary to Art and Culture Devesh Singh and writers participated in the event.