Rich tributes paid to Punjabi poet Batalvi

Poets and artists from across the state paid rich tributes to the popular Punjabi poet and the youngest Sahitya Akademi Award winner Shiv Kumar Batalvi on his 40 death anniversary here today.
Shiv Kumar Batalvi Art and Cultural Society has organised a function to commemorate his death anniversary in the auditorium named after the poet in which the former education minister Sewa Singh Sekhwan was the chief guest while former NRI affairs minister Balbir Singh Bath presided over it.
Artists, poets, writers and journalists paid their tributes to Batalvi, also known as the 'John Keats of Punjab', the organisers said.

On the occasion, Sekhwan said that the Punjab government has provided a sum of Rs 1.80 crore to complete the construction of the Shiv Kumar Batalvi auditorium.