Darjeeling, June 25: The Nepali Sahitya Sammelan has decided to confer Babulal Pradhan with the prestigious Nepali Sahitya Puraskar this year for his lifetime contribution to Nepali language.

The award — a sum of Rs 11, 501 along with a citation and a shawl — will be given to Pradhan on July 13, the birth anniversary of Bhanubhakta Acharya, who is the national poet of Nepal and held in high esteem by the Nepalese in India.

Pradhan, who has been admitted to the Planters’ Nursing Home after he fell down and hurt himself, could not speak because of his health condition. His granddaughter Prakriti said the family was happy as the Nepali literary circle has finally acknowledged the poet’s contribution to the language. “He simply loves the language. He has been working towards its uplift for a long time. He deserves the award,” said Prakriti. This is the only award, till now, that the poet has received.

Gopi Chand Pradhan, the vice-president of the sammelan, who chaired the selection committee, said: “Taking into consideration the contribution made by Pradhan towards the uplift of Nepali language over the years, we decided to felicitate the octogenarian writer for the year 2004.”

The 88-year-old has been consistently writing poems and short stories for children. Pradhan has also translated a number of works on personalities like Gandhiji, Jawarharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore from other languages to Nepali.

The writer from Darjeeling, who is also the former head of the department of Nepali at Darjeeling Government College, is the next well-known name in children’s literature after Parasmani Pradhan.

Pradhan has been writing since the early forties and has also brought out Nepali to Nepali and Nepali to English dictionaries.

Till now, only five personalities have been awarded by the sammelan, which was founded in 1924. Gopinarayan Pradhan from Shillong and Mahendra Poudyal from Sikkim, Kumar Pradhan, Tulsi Chhetri and Jagat Chhetri are the other recipients of the award.