Bhubaneswar/Mokokchung, May 24 (MTNews): Governor of Odisha, Prof Ganeshi Lal on Monday handed over the Guinness Book of World Records certificate to ‘Paperman India’ Shashanka Sekhar Dash in a special program at Raj Bhavan, Bhubaneswar. Till date Shanshanka has collected more than 10,000 newspapers of 5,100 different titles from 153 countries and 94 languages. With this achievement, he has overtaken Italian Sergio Bodini’s 1,444 newspaper titles collection record.
Popularly known as Paperman India, Shashanka a passionate Newspaper collector. His hobby is collecting newspapers of different forms from around the World. He is collecting Daily, Weekly, Bi-weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly, Bi-monthly, Quarterly and occasionally published newspapers since 2000.
Earlier, Shashanka’s name was featured in the Limca Book of Records, the India Book of Records and Credence Book of World Records. His name also finds mention in the OMG Book of Records.
He has started a newspaper museum in his village Arangabad of Bari Block of Jajpur district in his father’s name to preserve the newspapers. His Dolagobinda Newspaper Museum and Research Centre is a hub of newspapers as well as history and heritage.
“As we all know, today’s newspaper is history for tomorrow so the collection of newspaper is a heritage of our society,” the multiple record holder said in a statement received here today. He stated that he has recently requested Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Pattnaik, to establish a special newspaper museum and that he will donate all his collection. “There are no newspaper museums in India, so it will be the first it’s kind,” he added.
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