Odisha govt honours seven noted personalities with ‘Dharmapada Puraskar’

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government today honoured seven noted personalities with ‘Dharmapada Puraskar’ award for their contribution in the field of art and sculpture.

Gokul Bihari Patnaik and Aseem Basu were honoured posthumously with the award for 2009 and 2010 respectively. Dr Durga Prasad Das received the award for 2011 while Padma Shri Sudarshan Sahoo was honoured for 2012.

Jatin Das and Padma Vibhushan Raghunath Mohapatra were awarded for 2013 and 2015 respectively. Dinanath Pathi was honoured posthumously with ‘Dharmapada Puraskar’ for 2014.

Culture Minister Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi visited the houses of the awardees to honour them. Each awardee received Rs 1 lakh cash and a copper citation.

‘Dharmapada Puraskar’ is the highest award instituted by Odisha Lalita Kala Akademi.