BHUBANESWAR: Noted architect and sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra was appointed as the president of the Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi on Saturday.
After announcement of his appointment by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), the Tourism and Culture Department issued a notification in this regard. Mohapatra is well known for his study on different patterns of temple design, traditional ornament of both cultural and aesthetic aspects on stone carving and designing.
Mohapatra was awarded Padma Shri in 1976 and honoured with the prestigious Padma Bhushan in 2001. He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 2013. He, however, made an unsuccessful foray into politics and lost the Rajya Sabha polls in 2014 as a BJD backed Independent candidate.
He expressed his happiness over the appointment and promised to work for overall development of the Akademi.