patna bharatiya nritya kala mandirs former director hari uppal has received the prestigious sangeet natak akademi award 2001 for his outstanding contribution to dance at a function held at guwahati on april 4 assam governor lt gen retd s k sinha presented him a cheque of rs 40000 citation and angvastram at the shankardeo art complex guwahati assam chief minister tarun gogai and academy chairman bhupen hazarika were also present on the occasion a 76yearold uppal has served the institute as founderdirector for at least five decades since 1949 he has received dozens of awards from various sociocultural institutions including pataliputra parishad chetna samiti and rotary club he initiated the tradition of organising the famous rajgir dance festival in 1986 during his long tenure he imparted dance training to thousands of artists of bihar he has also succeeded in setting up open air auditorium main auditorium and the folk art museum at the institute his monumental work folk dances of bihar was published in 1963 has been recognised by the university grants commission