Nandi theatre festivals, awards to be revived: Tourism Minister
Vijayawada: Minister for Tourism, Culture and Cinematography Kandula Durgesh on Sunday announced that the State government would soon organise Nandi Theatre Festivals and present the long-pending Nandi Awards, reaffirming its commitment to revitalising the cultural sector in the state.
The ‘Krishna Teeram Kavitha Haaram’ literary programme was organised jointly by the NTR district administration, AP Tourism Department, and Malletheega Sahitya Seva Samstha near Haritha Berm Park at Bhavanipuram here during which Minister Durgesh, along with NTR district collector Dr G Lakshmisha, travelled aboard the Bodhisiri boat on the River Krishna, listened to poetry recitations by 51 poets from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Mumbai, and later felicitated all the participating poets.
Speaking on the occasion, Durgesh said the present government is taking firm steps to revive the cultural sector, which had suffered setbacks earlier, and assured that honours such as the Ugadi Puraskarams and Kandukuri Puraskarams would be presented grandly. He said discussions had already been held with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on installing a statue of Mahakavi Tikkana in Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district, with a final decision to be taken soon.
Durgesh described literary gatherings in natural settings as a new cultural direction, calling the poetry meet on a moving boat on the Krishna River a fresh trend and a poetic offering to the sacred river flowing through Amaravati. He announced that similar programmes would be organised along the Godavari and Penna rivers, including a poets’ meet on a launch from Devipatnam to Papikondalu, and said poems reflecting marginalised voices would be digitally documented for future generations. Collector Lakshmisha said poets are the torchbearers of society and stressed that safeguarding writers and their works is a collective responsibility.
AP Creative and Cultural Council Chairperson Podapati Tejaswi observed that for a nation to survive, its language must survive, and for society to thrive, literature must flourish. Even in the age of artificial intelligence, protecting language and literature is everyone’s responsibility, she said, noting that while rivers make land fertile, poets enrich human minds.
The programme was attended by Vijayawada RDO Kavuri Chaitanya, Malletheega Sahitya Seva Samstha president Kalimisree Yemineni Venkata Ramana, and several writers, artistes, and literary enthusiasts.
