Gadchiroli Jan. 26 (District correspondent) Well known stage artist of the district Parshuram Khune, who is known as Dada Kondke of Vidarbha was today felicitated by the district administration on his selection for the prestigious ‘Padmashree’ award.
Mr. Khune was presented shawl and bouquet at the hands of Ms. Sanjay Meena, District Collector in the main Republic Day programme that was held on the police grounds here this morning in presence of thousands of the people.
Dr. Deorao Holi, MLA, Mr. Nilotpal, SP, Mainak Ghosh, Rahul Meena, Assistant Collectors, Anuj Tare, Kumar Chinta, Additional SPs, Dhanaji Patil, Additional Collector were prominently present.
Mr. Khune, a resident of a small village of Gurnoli in Kurkheda belongs to a humble family is and is a farmer by profession. He has performed in more than 800 drama shows so far in Gadchiroli, Bhandara, Gondiya, Chandrapur districts and is still continuing his stage shows. Because of his comedy roles, he is known as Dada Kondke of Vidarbha. It is because of Mr. Khune and other artists of the district that the district of Gadchiroli is known all over the state of Maharashtra as a land of Zadipatti Dramas.
Talking to a group of reporters today, Mr. Khune dedicated this award to the Zadipatti drama lovers and said it is only because of the love and support of the drama lovers that he could get this award.
There was a bee line of people including govt. officials, public representatives, journalists and others to congratulate Mr. Khune on the stage of the police grounds and he greeted everybody with a smiling face, accompanied by his farmer son.
Mr. Khune was honoured with ‘Gadchiroli Gaurav Award’ by the Gadchiroli Press club few years back for his outstanding contribution to the field of Zadipatti Dramas.
Mr. Khune is the third person from the district of Gadchiroli to have received this prestigious award. Earlier Dr. Prakash Amte had received the award in 2002 and Dr. Abhay Bang have also received this award in 2021.
