Bathinda- A condolence meeting was organized at the Teachers' Home here in the name of the recently departed famous short story writer Prem Prakash, eminent critic and Senior Vice President of the Central Punjabi Writers' Association (Regd.) Prof. Harjinder Singh Atwal, eminent Marxist critic Dr. Mohammad Ejaz UK, poets Kewal Sharma, Surjit Bhagat, colorist Veerpal Samra and Bhupinder Sandhu.
About two dozen writers and literature lovers associated with the writers' associations of Bathinda city, namely Punjabi Sahitya Sabha, Sahitya Riyanka Manch, Sahitya Te Sabhakar Manch, Sahitya Jagrati Sabha and Teachers' Home Trust, respectively, attended this condolence meeting.
At the beginning of the condolence meeting, the writers present paid tribute to the departed writers by observing a two-minute silence.
After this, the Vice President of the Central Punjabi Writers' Association, Surinderpreet Ghania, paid tribute to the above-mentioned writers and mentioned and praised their literary contribution. Regarding Prof. Harjinder Singh Atwal, he said that Atwal Sahib was a sincere, decent and friendly person, a capable critic and a sincere and hardworking organizational leader. He paid tribute to him by reciting a poem from Kewal Sharma's poetry collection 'Babiha'.
The Shiromani storyteller and former Senior Vice President of the Central Punjabi Writers' Association, Shri Atarjit, while paying tribute to Prem Prakash, said that Prem Prakash set a special trend in Punjabi stories and enriched them artistically. He shared his memories with Prof. Harjinder Atwal and said that he was a very humble and friendly person.
Jaspal Mankhera, Vice President of Punjabi Sahit Academy, Ludhiana, referring to the literary contribution of Prem Prakash, said that Prem Prakash gave a new direction to Punjabi story by presenting the inner turmoil of modern man in his stories. He also praised the literary contribution of Prof. Harjinder Singh Atwal, Dr. Mohammad Ejaz, Bhupinder Sandhu. After this, speakers like Prof. Tarsem Narula, Amar Singh Sidhu, Sukhdarshan Garg, Amarjit Singh etc. paid tribute to Surjit Bhagat, Veerpal Samra and called their departure a great loss for Punjabi literature. While conducting the condolence meeting, General Secretary of Teachers Home Trust, Laxman Maluka, also paid tribute to the writers who passed away on behalf of the trust. In addition to the above, writers like Ranveer Rana, Manjit Singh Jeet, Dr. Jaspaljit, Dr. Ajit Pal Singh, Damjit Darshan, Prin Amarjit Sidhu, Ramesh Kumar Garg, Amarjit Kaur Harar, Kamal Bathinda, Meet Bathinda, Bhola Singh Shamiria, Ramesh Sethi, Daljit Bangi, Avtar Singh Bahia, Jaswinder Surgeet etc. were present in this condolence meeting.