Mangaluru: The Kannada and Cultural Department (Bengaluru), in association with all the cultural academies of the district, organized a two-day ‘Sangama Sambhrama – 2015’ at Pilikula Nisargadhama, Vamanjoor here, on July 25.
The programme began with an invocation followed by Nadageethe and Raitha Geethe. A minute of silence was observed for the soul of Legendary classical dancer Jayalakshmi Alva who had expired recently.
President of Konkani Sahitya Academy Roy Castelino welcomed the gathering. The programme was inaugurated by the Minister for Kannada and Cultural Department,Umashree by hoisting the Kannada flag.
Addressing the gathering, MLA J R Lobo said that this is the first time where more than 13 academies came together to hold a cultural extravaganza at Pilikula Nisargadhama. “This is a unique programme which has been organized by the Kannada and Cultural Department.” He further said, “Pilikula is very dear to me. Many officers such as Jayaprakash Bhadary, Prabhakar Sharma and others have worked hard to beautify this place. All the funds that the state government has sanctioned for Pilikula have been utilized in a systematic way. We have built the ‘Guthina Mane’ and beautified the entire Pilikula Nisargadhama with the sanctioned funds. We will complete the remaining development work soon and invite minister Umashree again for the inauguration.”
He also said that Mangaluru is a unique place which encourages artistes and respects culture and tradition. “Whatever cultural programmes we hold in Mangaluru, we have the support of the people.”
In her inaugural speech Umashree said that the department has come up with the Cultural policy. “Some queries regarding financial implications of the policy are still being discussed and they will be clarified shortly. There has been a delay in the payment for the artistes. In this regard, we have planned to give honorarium to the artistes, and that will be directly credited to their bank accounts, there will not be any middle man,” she said.
She also said that a proposal had been sent to Delhi to seek the Centre’s assistance for the district Rangamandir under the Rabindranath Tagore scheme, wherein 60% of the funds would be provided by the Centre and 40% by the state. “The proposal has been pending since long time. If we don’t get the clearance from the Centre, I will discuss this with the district in-charge minister Ramanath Rai and see whether the project can be taken up by the state itself. The project cost is around Rs 25 crore, and Rs 3 crore has already been released by the state government. We hope that centre will send additional funds.”
President of ZP Asha Thimmappa Gowda, President of Coastal Development authority Nivedith Alva, Muda Chairman Ibrahim Kodijal, Director Kannada and Cultural Department K A Dayanand, Director Pilikula Nisargadhama S A Prabhakar Sharma and others were also present. Manohar Prasad compered the programme.