BHUBANESWAR : Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday announced ‘Manoj Das International Literary Award’ in memory of the great litterateur who passed away at a hospital in Puducherry on April 27. The international award with prize money of Rs 10 lakh will be given to Odia writers for their creative writing in English every year. The Chief Minister also announced ‘Manoj Kishore Sahitya Prativa Samman’ to create interest among youths for literature.
The award will be given at the high school level for original creative writing in Odia and English. The prize money for the awards will be Rs 1 lakh each. Similarly, the ancestral house of Das will be taken over by the State government and converted to ‘Manmath-Manoj’ memorial as per a proposal of family members in memory of the two illustrious brothers, eminent historian Manmath Nath Das and legendary writer Manoj Das.
A library will be set up containing all the writings of the two brothers at the memorial. It was also decided that the temple on premises of the house will also be preserved. Besides, special editions of Odisha Review, Utkala Prasanga and Konark brought out by the Odisha Sahitya Akademi will be published. The Chief Minister had discussed the steps to be taken up for setting up the memorial with family members of Das over telephone and expressed deep grief over his demise.