Manoj Tirwari's stamp: Nothing official about it!

Jamshedpur, May 28 (UNI) The much-hyped postal stamp of popular Bhojpuri singer and actor Manoj Tiwari, which was reportedly released by the government of Netherlands was not an official one but a personalized stamp.

This fact was brought to light by vernacular web portal bhojpuria.com after confirming it from the Royal Netherlands Embassy in New Delhi.

Director of the website Sudhir Kumar today told UNI here that he received an e-mail from an Indian fan based in Netherlands on May 22 after reading the news of "honouring" the Bhojpuri star by the Dutch government in the community portal.

The mail stated that the news which was carried by almost all national dailies in India that the Dutch government had released a postal stamp to honour the Indian actor was false.

Mr Kumar immediately contacted the official of Netherlands Embassy, who confirmed that the Dutch government had not issued any such stamp.

On enquiring into the matter, Mr Kumar came to know that the Dutch government does not officialy issue any stamp, rather it is done by TNT Post, a privately run agency in that country. This year they have issued stamps under 29 themes, including green stamps and kids stamps. But, Manoj Tiwari stamps were not included in the programme.

In Netherlands, people interested in getting stamps issued against their names have to send requisition forms and if they managed to fulfil the criteria, a personalized stamp will be issued by the TNP Post, Mr Kumar informed and added that Tiwari did the same "trick" to have a 44-cent worth stamp issued in his name and went public with his achievement.

Incidentally, the Bihar government had honoured the actor recently in Raj Bhawan at a ceremony in Patna for the his "achievement".

However, sources said the actor would address the media soon and clarify his stand on this controversial issue.

UNI BDG LL KLC1458