Government Announces Award in Bismillah Khan's Honor
Patna: August 22, 2006
 Hours after the demise of shehnai king Ustad Bismillah Khan, the Bihar government, on Monday announced an award in the name of the maestro and also its decision to construct a life-size statue of the Bharat Ratn recipient at his ancestral village in Dumraon.
Declaring a state-wide one-day mourning, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, on Monday, eulogized the artist par excellence saying Khan's music transcended class, caste, religion, and nationality and the void created by his demise would be felt for generations to come.
Meanwhile, at the directive of the Chief Minister, state Art and Culture Minister Janardan Singh Sigriwal, Building Construction Minister Monazir Hasan, and Art and Culture secretary Anjani Kumar Singh flew to Delhi and took part in the funeral of the shehnai guru.
Other leaders including former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, Speaker of the Assembly Uday Narayan Chowdhary, Union state minister for Human Resources A. Fatmi, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Kiran Ghai and Dr. C. P. Thakur, and Congress leader Vijay Shankar Dubey also paid their respects to the departed soul saying with Khan's demise the world had lost a great musician and a humanitarian.
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