Date:30/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/30/stories/2008103058880300.htm

Karnataka - Mangalore

Work on Tulu Samskritika Bhavan yet to begin

Raviprasad Kamila

Sahitya academy does not have enough funds to start work

Government has allotted half an acre of land for the bhavan
It was recommended that Rs. 50 lakh be sanctioned for the building

MANGALORE: A two-year-old proposal of the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy to build a Tulu Samskritika Bhavan in the city is yet to take off due to lack of funds.

The former president of the academy M.K. Seetharama Kulal made the proposal in 2006. Following this, the Government allotted half an acre of land to the academy near Urwa Stores to construct the bhavan.

“When we planned it two years ago, it was a Rs. 2.46-crore project. Now it might cost Rs. 3 crore,” Mr. Kulal told The Hindu. The Department of Kannada and Culture has recommended that the Government sanction Rs. 50 lakh for the building. Mr. Kulal said that he had learnt that the matter was now before the Department of Finance for consideration. Mr. Kulal said that the Chief Engineer of the Department of Public Works had approved the sketch and plan of the building.

Presently the office of the academy is in the Mangalore City Corporation building at Lalbagh, for which it pays rent to the corporation. The academy has to divert approximately 10 per cent of its annual grants to pay the rent. The office of the academy can be shifted to the bhavan once it is ready. Then the rent amount can be utilised for activities of the academy, he said.

Mr. Kulal said that he had approached the authorities of a major public sector bank here for funds. They told him that they could consider granting funds only after the academy began constructing the building.

In addition, he had approached the authorities of a major information technology company and an oil processing company in the city. They did not commit themselves towards giving any amount.

According to the plan of the academy, the building will have an auditorium with a seating capacity of 1,000 where Tulu activities will be organised. It can also rent out the auditorium. In addition, it will have a museum to showcase rare artefacts related to Tulu life and culture, and games. The bhavan will have a library where research works on Tulu culture and life histories of Tulu writers, artistes and thinkers will be kept. In addition, there will be a reading room.

The bhavan will have an audiovisual library to store compact discs on Tulu folk games and dances, Tuluva rites and rituals, “Bhutharadhane”, serpent worship, “Kambala”, Yakshagana, Chennemane and so on.

Paltady Ramakrishna Achar, while taking charge as president of the academy on October 18, had stated that a committee headed by Mr. Kulal would be constituted to pursue this project.