West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Kolkata: The Raj Bhavan Kolkata, seemingly on an award-giving spree this pujo season, has added one more prize to the list with Governor C V Ananda Bose announcing the "Bengaliana" award for the best Durga Puja pandal.
The award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.
An official update from the Governor House, shared late on Thursday evening, mentioned that the award will be presented on Vijayadashami Day. The Raj Bhavan has invited nominations from the people and has offered an e-mail ID for the same. “People’s jury will select the best one. No money from the government will be used for this,” the note added.
Every year, the West Bengal government offers the Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman Awards during Durga Puja. The government’s official page on awards stated that these prizes are “to motivate, acknowledge and duly recognise the best puja(s) and their creators in urban and rural Bengal”.
Meanwhile, the state government has announced the names of the recipients of the awards for this year. Under eight categories, 104 awards have been given.
The award announced by Governor Bose, apparently a parallel acknowledgement of creativity, but by people's choice, offers an additional opportunity for the puja committees to compete.
The Raj Bhavan has already announced awards for other contributions. The first set of “Durga Bharat awards” were presented on Wednesday. The nominations for “West Bengal Governor’s Durga Bharat Samman”, divided into three categories, were invited in September. Besides, the Governor's Award for Excellence in Public Service, and the Governor’s Karmayogi Excellence Award have already been presented.
Another award, “Babasaheb Ambedkar Award” — to “annually honour individuals or institutions with outstanding contributions to ameliorate the conditions of our brothers and sisters” from scheduled castes, and scheduled tribes — has also been instituted.