Vice President Radhakrishnan honours Chhattisgarh's finest at Rajyotsav ceremony

Raipur, Nov 6 (IANS) In a grand celebration of Chhattisgarh’s cultural, social, and developmental spirit, Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan conferred 34 prestigious awards upon 37 distinguished individuals and four institutions for their exceptional contributions to the state.

The ceremony, held as part of the Chhattisgarh Rajyotsav in Nava Raipur, was presided over by Governor Ramen Deka, with Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai gracing the occasion as Chief Guest. Assembly Speaker Dr Raman Singh, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma, along with several ministers, MPs, and MLAs, attended as special guests.

The ceremony honoured a spectrum of excellence -- from grassroots activism to agriculture, literature, and tribal service. Hiresh Sinha of Kanker received the Shaheed Veernarayan Singh Award, while the Indian Leprosy Prevention Association from Janjgir-Champa was recognised with the Yeti Yatanlal Award.

Gyaneshwari Yadav of Rajnandgaon was conferred the Gundadhur Award, and Laleshwari Sahu of Durg received the Minimata Award.

The Guru Ghasidas Award was jointly presented to Bhuvandas Jangde of Bemetara and Shashi Gaikwad of Balodabazar-Bhatapara.

The Thakur Pyarelal Singh Award went to the Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Society, Doma, Dhamtari. Dr Kunj Bihari Sharma of Raipur was honoured with the Habib Tanveer Award, and Chandni Sahu of Bilaspur received the Maharaja Pravirchand Bhanjdev Award.

Among other laureates were Rajesh Agrawal and Dr Chintaranjan Kar of Raipur, recipients of the Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla and Pandit Sundarlal Sharma Awards, respectively.

Pandit Kirti Madhav Lal Vyas of Durg was honoured with the Chakradhar Award, while Rikhi Kshatriya of Durg received the Dau Mandaraji Award.

The Krishak Ratna Award was jointly awarded to Thanendra Kumar Sahu of Dhamtari and Vaman Kumar Tikriha of Balodabazar. The Journalism award was celebrated with Dr Sandeep Kumar Tiwari (Print Media Hindi), Dr Somesh Kumar Patel and Abhishek Shukla (Electronic Media Hindi), and Bhavana Pandey (Print Media English) receiving accolades.

Neeraj Kumar Bajpai of Rajnandgaon was honoured with the Danveer Bhamashah Award, and Dr Ajay Krishna Kulshrestha received the Dhanvantari Award.

Sukhdev Das of Raipur was recognised for fisheries development.

The Tribal Service Award went to Jango Raitar Vidya Ketul Educational Institution of Kanker, while the Labour Success Award was jointly given to Mithilesh Kumar Adil, the Agrawal Team of Durg, and NTPC Ltd., Lara Super Thermal Power Project, Raigarh.

Yogesh Kumar Sahu of Kanker received the Pandit Lakhanlal Mishra Award, and Manish Tiwari of Raipur was honoured as a Non-Resident Indian.

Cultural and literary contributions were also spotlighted: Rohit Kumar Kosaria of Mahasamund received the Panthi Dance Award, Sunil Soni and Rakesh Tiwari of Raipur were honoured with the Kishore Sahu and Laxman Masturia Awards respectively, and Dr Vinod Kumar Verma of Bilaspur received the Lala Jagdalpuri Literature Award.

The Kishore Sahu National Decoration was conferred upon filmmaker Anurag Basu of Mumbai.

The Barrister Thakur Chhedilal Award was jointly presented to Khemchand Jain of Rajnandgaon, Dr Suresh Mani Tripathi, Dr Bhupendra Karvande, and Bharatlal Soni of Raipur.

Premshila Baghel of Mahasamund received the Veerangan Avantibai Lodhi Memorial Award, while Shilpa Pandey Srishti of Surguja was honoured with the Mata Bahadur Kalarin Award.

Awadhesh Kumar of New Delhi received the Pandit Madhav Rao Sapre National Creativity Award, and Dr Dadu Bhai Tripathi of Raipur was recognised with the Sanskrit Language Award.

--IANS

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