A five-day Kabi Sukanta Mela will begin today (Thursday) on the premises of the ancestral homestead of poet Sukanta Bhattacharya at Unasia village under Kotalipara upazila of the district, marking birth anniversary of the poet.
Ministry of Culture and Gopalganj district administration are going to jointly organise the fair. Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kazi Mahbubul Alam will inaugurate the fair as the chief guest.
Last three years, the Mela was not held due to Coronavirus pandemic.
In the fair, recitation, writing and painting competitions have been organized with the participation of students from various educational institutions of the upazila and will also be held a cultural program with the participation of prominent artists of the country.
On the occasion of the Mela, house of poet and its surrounding areas are decorated in a new form around this fair. Upazila administration and law enforcement forces are monitoring Kabir's house round the clock.
Kotalipara Upazila Chairman Bimal Krishna Bishwas said that the atmosphere of festival is spreading throughout the upazila around this fair. Various social and cultural persons of the upazila organized the fair with the full cooperation.
General Secretary of Upazila Awami League Ayanal Hossain Sheikh urged to the government to take appropriate measures to preserve as a tourist center and built a modern library at the poet's ancestral home for the next generation.
Ashok Karmakar, General Secretary of Poet Sukanta Smriti Sangsad, said that we have been holding a fair at the poet's ancestral home for 10 years on the occasion of the poet's birth anniversary. The poet was born in the month of August. As August is the month of mourning, so we organize the fair every year in the first week of March.
Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Ferdous Wahid said 'Already we have completed all measures for the fair.'
Sukanta Bhattacharya was born on August 15 in 1926 at Kalighat Mohim Halder Street in Kolkata and died on May 13 in 1947 at the age of only 21 suffering from tuberculosis.
His ancestral homestead is at Unasia under Kotalipara upazila in Gopalganj district.
