Date:20/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/20/stories/2006022020230400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Appoint administrator to Chitrakala Parishat, Government urged

Special Correspondent

Problems of the parishat traced to the fact that non-artistes are dominating its affairs

Bangalore: Some of the members of the staff and others connected with the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat have urged the Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to appoint an administrator to the parishat and ensure that the elections in the organisation are held in a free and fair manner.

Numbering 16, the employees and others have sought the immediate intervention of the State Government to stop the parishat management from shifting the property of the parishat to the Chitrakala Parishat Trust.

They have blamed the Governor of Maharashtra S.M. Krishna, who is a patron of the parishat, the president of the parishat and former chairman of the Legislative Council B.L. Shankar, its general secretary D.K. Chowta and an industrialist in that connection.

They have traced the problems of the parishat to the fact that non-artistes are dominating its affairs.

They have also spoken of the misuse of funds granted by the Union and State Governments and the Lalitkala Academy.

The management has taken up the construction of some structures on the parishat land on the Kumara Krupa Road here.

Though it is getting funds by way of fee from students and also donations, the College of Fine Arts run by the parishat is lacking in infrastructure and well-equipped teachers.

The management is indulging in a policy of divide and rule to protect itself, they said.

The signatories to the letter to the Chief Minister include Vijayalakshmi, Babu Eshwar Prasad, M.G. Kulkarni, G.S. Bhavani, Sanjay Haldar, S. Gopinath, Uday M. Singh and R.N. Umesh Kumar.