KalingaTimes Correspondent
Bhubaneswar, May 17: Haraprasad Das, noted bureaucrat and eminent writer in Oriya, will get the 29th edition of prestigious Sarala Award for his poetry `Harmonium Re Todi'.

The Sarala Award committee announced this in a meeting held here on Friday.

Das will receive a cash award of Rs 1.5 lakh along with a citation.

The prize money has been increased from 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh from this year.

Four other eminent personalities of the State will also be honoured for valuable contribution in their respective fields.

They are lyricist Binod Pashayat, music composer Prafulla Kar, social worker Abhaya Charan Chalan and sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik.

They would receive a cash award of Rs 21,000 each along with citations.

A special function will be held at Jayadev Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on June 14 to felicitate Das and other awardees.

The annual Sarala Award was instituted in 1978 by Indian Metals Public Charitable Trust(IMPaCT).

IMPaCT is the charitable wing of Orissa-based IMFA Group, the largest and only fully integrated producer of ferro alloys in India.

Sarala Award is recognised as one of the foremost literary awards in the State.

The Ekalabya Award also instituted by IMPaCT crowns promising sports talents of Orissa.