Noted saint of folk art from Dhemaji Eklavya Gham received the Pratima Pandey Awards 2022 on Tuesday.

The award was conferred by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on the death anniversary of Pratima Barua Pandey.

AASU organised an event on the death anniversary of the folk legend in Chandmari.

The event started with ceremonial lamp lit by AASU Chief Advisor Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya.

At the event, Eklavya Gham was conferred with seleng sador, Gamusa, Xorai and Rs. 25,000 cash.

The awards ceremony was followed by a performance of Goalpara folk songs by invited artists. The event was attended by AASU members, journalists and several others.

Pratima was a Goalpariya folk singer who brought Goalpariya Lokgeet on the national platform with her evergreen numbers like ‘Hastir Kanya’, ‘Mur Mahut Bandhure’ and many more.

She hailed from the royal family of Gauripur in west Assam's Dhubri district. She was honoured with the Padma Shri and the Sangeet Natak Akademi awards for her contribution to popularising Goalpariya folk music.

Barua Pandey was daughter of Prakritish Chandra Barua and niece of filmmaker Pramathesh Chandra Barua of Devdas fame.