Tezpur’s pride Geeta Upadhyay gets Padma Shri at home from Assam Ministers
Upadhyay was also awarded 2012 Sahitya Akademi Transaltion Award
Tezpur, Aug 5: Veteran litterateur and Sahitya Akademi awardee Geeta Upadhyay was formally handed the prestigious Padma Shri Award at her residence in Chandmari, Tezpur by State cabinet ministers Chandra Mohan Patowary, Dr Ranoj Pegu and Ashok Singhal, on Sunday.
State Home Secretary Partha Mazumdar and Additional Chief Secretary for Home and Political Department, Ajoy Tiwari joined the ministers in handing over the national honour to the ailing writer at her residence.
Geeta Upadhyay, who was named as a recipient of the Padma Shri Award by the Government of India was unable to attend the award ceremony held in New Delhi due to health concerns. The award was officially presented to her in a special ceremony arranged at her home in Tezpur by the Assam government. Accepting the honour, Geeta Upadhyay expressed her heartfelt gratitude and said, “It is a matter of great joy and gratitude.”
Hailing from a family of freedom fighters, Upadhyay is the granddaughter of renowned freedom fighter Chabilal Upadhyay. She was born in Behali in the erstwhile undivided Sonitpur district to Tankanath Upadhyay and Bhagirathi Devi. A celebrated writer, translator and speaker Geeta Upadhyay is well-known for her Assamese translation of The Diary of Anne Frank, and proudly acknowledge both Assamese and Nepali as her mother tongues.
It is worth mentioning that in 2012, Upadhyay was conferred the Sahitya Akademi Translation Award for translating Jyoti Prasad Agarwala’s iconic Assamese play Karengor Ligiri into Nepali. Later, in 2016, she received the Sahitya Akademi Award for her novel Janmabhumi Mero Swadesh.
The special felicitation programme held in Tezpur not only honoured her literary journey but also celebrated her unwavering contribution to Indian literature and cultural heritage.