Awards for Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman at Nazrul Mancha this Thursday

Kolkata: The state government will give the awards under Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman at Nazrul Mancha on Thursday.

Award to prize winning Puja organisers of the competition organised by the Kolkata Police will also be given out from the same programme.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be present in the programme. Senior ministers including the state Education minister Partha Chatterjee, the Panchayat and Rural Development minister Subrata Mukherjee, the state Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim, the state Power Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay and the state Minister of State for the Information and Cultural Affairs minister Indranil Sen will also be present in the programme.

Around 70 Puja organisers including the 25 "Serar Sera" award winners of the Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman will be receiving the prize on Thursday evening. The Information and Cultural Affairs department had been organising the Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman for the past five years and it has become immensely successful with more than 100 applicants from abroad participating in the competition this year.

Seven best Puja organisers from different states and one from abroad will also be receiving the award on Thursday.

Eleven Puja organisers, whose presentations in the Red Road immersion carnival came up to be the best, will also be awarded in the same programme. It may be mentioned that this year, the extravaganza on Red Road on October 3 has become popular worldwide with idols of Goddess Durga and her entourage being carried on decorated tableaux amidst the beats of dhaks and fireworks.

Around 21 Puja organisers, who have won the competition organised by the Kolkata Police, will be receiving the award too. The Kolkata Police had announced awards in different categories.

It may be recalled that different departments of the state government had prepared tableaux based on different successful projects of the respective departments and the tableaux were presented in the parade that was held on Red Road on Independence Day. This year, the Information and Cultural Affairs department's tableau was based on communal harmony. Seven best tableaux will also be awarded in the programme at Nazrul Mancha on Thursday.

There will be an inaugural song in the programme and there will be dhakis outside the auditorium.