Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award

January 11, 2014: Today was a red letter day for The Bengal as the Honorable President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, did the honours of awarding the Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award for excellence in Bengali literature at the Raj Bhavan, Kolkata, in the morning. Two veteran poets and literatteurs of Bengal, Nirendranath Chakravarti and Sankha Ghosh, were awarded for their contribution to Bengali literature for the year 2012 and 2013 respectively. The prize consisted of a citation, shawl and a cash component of Rs 2 lac each.

The Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award was instituted by The Bengal with the support of Shree Cement in 2012 when Sunil da, who was the immediate past president of the organization, died in harness.

The Honorable Governor of West Bengal, Shri M K Narayanan, Sheriff-designate of Kolkata, Shri Ranjit Mullick, Minister-in Charge for Housing, Government of West Bengal, Arup Biswas were there at the dais along with Shri H M Bangur, Chairman of The Bengal, Smt Nabaneeta Dev Sen, President of The Bengal and Shri Jogen Chowdhury, Working President of The Bengal.

The wife of Late Shri Sunil Gangopadhyay, Smt Swati Ganguly was also present along with a host of guests and dignitaries from all walks of life including the elderly members of Pronam.

Shri H M Bangur welcomed the guests on the dais. Smt Nabaneeta Dev Sen gave the welcome speech. Smt Gargi Roychowdhury, a committee member of The Bengal, rendered the welcome song on the occasion and Shri Goutam Ghose, Board Member of The Bengal, recited a poem of Late Sunil Gangopadhyay at the Award function. Shri Jogen Chowdhury, Working President, The Bengal, delivered the vote of thanks at the function. The Bengal team member Mr Arindam Sil and Ms Ekavalli Khanna compered the event.

Recipient of the Award, Shri Nirendranath Chakravarti, said in his speech how he was overwhelmed to receive the award in memory of someone who was much younger and should have actually outlived him. President Pranab Mukherjee too elaborated on this point and shared his fondness for the works of Sunil da. He congratulated The Bengal for instituting the Award.

The whole exercise from inviting the President to executing the event involves some massive office work and interactions with various departments of the government at the national and state level. The process of working out the event began months in advance and being the Secretary General of The Bengal, I had to work out the details of it.

Given the stringent security norms and protocols, it was essential to work out the details of the event meticulously and according to a plan. But at the end it paid off as the programme passed off very smoothly.

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