The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) had last year declared its Swarbhaskar Puraskar for 2014 to Indian classical vocalist Prabha Atre but the felicitation function has got delayed due to unavailability of the chief guests as suggested by the office of the veteran singer. However, the office of vocalist told this paper on Monday that it had just made a suggestion and not put any condition and that she was ready to accept the award at her residence. On June 13 last year, the civic body had announced the Swarbhaskar award in the name of Pt Bhimsen Joshi to Atre. The award consists of a cash prize of Rs 1,11,000 and a citation. [related-post] “The personal secretary of the vocalist, Bharati M D, in a telephonic conversation, conveyed that the award should be conferred either by union minister Prakash Jawadekar, union minister Suresh Prabhu or former justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadikhari and the award would not be accepted if it is not done through them. Also, she said there should not be any political person other than the three guests suggested on the stage during the felicitation function,” said Mayor Dattatraya Dhankawade. He said the PMC was further conveyed that a cultural programme by Dr Prabha Atre Foundation should be organised on the occasion and Rs 75,000 should be made available towards honorarium for the artistes in the cultural programme. Bharati said Justice Dharmadhikari was available for the function on March 29 and the PMC scheduled the function accordingly while clarifying that the civic body would not be able to organise the cultural programme by Dr Prabha Atre Foundation at the function, Dhankawade said. “However, Justice Dharmadhikari responded to the PMC communication that he would not be able to attend the function between March 22 to 31 as he has committed for other functions.” “Atre is a senior vocalist and we have great respect for her. It is our responsibility to confer the award as per the time convenient for her,” Dhankawade said. Bharati said there was no condition from the side of veteran vocalist for accepting the award and that only a few suggestions were made. “She is a very senior vocalist and we sought information from PMC on the function to ensure that the felicitation function is appropriate to her,” she clarified. “We also conveyed to the PMC that she would accept the award if they give it to her at her residence,” Bharati said. Last week, deputy mayor Ulhas Bagul had criticised the delay in conferring the award to Atre, saying that if the PMC failed to give the award in a week, he would himself give the award to the vocalist. “If I hand over the award to the vocalist, it would set a wrong precedent. Therefore, the function should be organised as soon as possible. Also, the award function should be organised in the year in which it is declared,” he said.
