The Hindu : Karnataka News : From the Districts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 26, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

From the Districts

By Our Staff Correspondent

10th anniversary of writers' forum

MANGALORE NOV. 25. Konkani Writers' Forum, an association of Konkani authors writing in Kannada script, will celebrate a decade of its existence here on Sunday. The forum founded on November 13, 1994 now has 100 members from all over the country, according to the president of the forum, Dolphy S. Lobo. Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, Mr. Lobo said that presently Konkani authors wrote in Devanagari, Roman, Malayalam, Urdu, and Kannada scripts. Devanagari was the officially recognised script by the Kendra Sahitya Academy. Writers in Goa used the Roman and Devanagari scripts, those in Kerala, Malayalam and in Karnataka, Urdu and Kannada script, he said. Eric Crasta, president of Konkani Basha Mandal (Karnataka), Mangalore, would inaugurate the decennial function. Pratap Naik, director of Thomas Stevens Konkani Kendra, Goa, and Irene Lobo and Jerry Nidodi, litterateurs, would participate in a seminar on the `Future of Konkani,' which would be held after the inaugural function at Sandesha Foundation premises, Bajjodi here. Mr. Lobo said that the organisers had decided to felicitate senior Konkani writers Victor Rodrigues, Alban Castelino, Gladys Rego, Irene Castelino and Alice Fernandes. The director of Sandesha Foundation, Denis D'Sa, would release a souvenir.

`Introduce city bus service'

TUMKUR NOV. 25. T.C. Shashidhar, member of Tumkur City Municipal Council from Shantinagar, has urged the Government to expedite the introduction of city bus service in Tumkur. Mr. Shashidhar told presspersons here on Wednesday that the city, with 35 wards, had a population of 2.5 lakh. The Government had, as early as in 1997, proposed internal transport facility for the city. However, the Karnataka State Transport Corporation, which was asked to implement the scheme, had not taken any action so far, he said. There was a proposal to access peripheral villages and upgrade the council into a corporation. City bus service would then be mandatory, he said. Besides schools and colleges, Tumkur also had a university and the number of students had gone up.

Holiday for Hutri in Kodagu

Madikeri Nov. 25. The State Government has announced a public holiday in Kodagu district only on Saturday in view of Hutri (Puttari) festival to be observed in the district, according to official information received here on Thursday. Hutri, the harvest festival, is one of the three main festivals observed by the people of the district. The Madikeri station of All India Radio will broadcast four special programmes on the occasion of Hutri, according to a press release by the Assistant Director of the station, Indira Yesupriya Gajaraj. The programmes are an interview with Abdul Rasheed; `Sneha Panchami,' a humorous skit by the writer, Nagesh Kalur; an interview with the president of the Akhila Kodava Samaja, Matanda C. Monnappa; and a musical feature by `Ninaada' group of Ponnampet, directed by the singer, Nirmala Bopanna. The programmes will be aired between 8.35 a.m. and 10 a.m.

Overloaded lorries banned

Udupi Nov. 25. Lorries carrying manganese ore have been banned on all State highways and major district roads in Udupi district. In a press release issued here, the Deputy Commissioner, T. Sham Bhatt, said that many culverts and bridges on the State highways and major district roads in the district were getting damaged because of the movement of overloaded lorries. The movement of these lorries had damaged the Kandlur bridge (on the 75th km) on the Kundapur-Tirthahalli road. The Public Works Department had urged the district administration to halt the movement of overloaded lorries. The roads and bridges in the district were constructed long ago and they could bear only a limited load. There had been strong protests throughout the district on this issue. The movement of lorries has been banned under Section 115 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988. The ban came into effect from November 22 and would continue till further orders, the release said.

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