VIJAYAWADA: Stating that the State government will take up initiatives to promote Telugu language, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu named 2018 as ‘Telugu Bhasha Parirakshana Samvatsaram’ (A year to preserve the language of Telugu). He said that an action plan would be prepared to give Telugu a special place in the governance. Speaking after inaugurating the 29th Vijayawada Book Festival as a part of Navyaandhra Pustaka Sambaralu at Tummalapalli Kalakshetram along with Vice- President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday, the Chief Minister also said that the government would take a decision soon on integrating the Department of Language and the Department of Public Libraries to promote Telugu. The request to bring both the departments together was made by NTR Trust CEO Vishnu Vardhan.
“Our culture and values can be protected through our language and language can be safeguarded only through books. That is the reason I asked Vijayawada Book Festival Society (VBFS) and NTR Trust to conduct book festivals across the 13 districts. The government will extend its support. I declare 2018 as ‘Telugu Bhasha Parirakshana Samvatsaram’,” he said. He further said that the government will work with organisations across the State to promote book reading. “There is no history without books. In the age of internet, people have lost the habit of writing. But we need to make effort to promote it,” he added.
Naidu recalled that Vijayawada was once known for its publishing industry, writers, cultural artistes and politicians. “Even several newspapers used to be published from here. But over the years, it got fragmented as people moved away. But now, with Amaravati coming up, we have a chance to regain Vijayawada’s lost glory,” he observed.
Prior to the CM’s address, CEO of NTR Trust Vishnu Vardhan said that book festivals will be held in 13 places starting with Vijayawada. “Our idea is to make Navyaandhra Pustaka Sambaralu a literary and cultural event of the State. If we can further integrate this event with local tourism in every district, it would gain prominence across the country,” he said.
The Vice-President and CM felicitated the president of VBFS S Venkata Narayana on the occasion. Ministers Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and Kollu Ravindra, ZP Chairperson Gadde Anuradha, Mayor Koneru Sridhar, Collector B Lakshmikantham, and Director of Department of Language and Culture D Vijay Bhaskar were present.