Bidar: The Kannada Sahitya Parishat central committee has decided to hold the 72nd National Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Bidar on the "same day at the same venue."

In an emergency meeting in Bangalore on Sunday, members resolved not to postpone the sammelana for "non- literary reasons."

When contacted, central committee president Chandrashekar Patil said the parishat will invite a senior writer in place of the Chief Minister, to inaugurate the sammelana.

Scarcity of funds is likely to take the glitter away from the conference. The reception committee may have to scale down expenses to less than half of the actual estimate.

The State Government has sanctioned Rs 3.5 crores for the sammelana, but has released only Rs 1.1 crore till date. This, reception committee says, is barely enough to lodge and feed the 25,000 delegates and put up the stage at the venue.

"Earlier, we planned to spend Rs. 30 lakhs on the stage, Rs. 35 lakhs on food, Rs. 15 lakhs on lodging and Rs. 30 lakhs for the sammelana procession. The City Municipal Council planned to spend Rs. 2.5 crores on road repair, reconstruction and beautification. But now we are forced to revise the estimates," a senior member of the reception committee said.

District Kannada Sahitya Parishat president and reception committee general secretary Jagannath Hebbale said: "We will try to organise it within our means. We will also see if the district administration or the zilla panchayat can help us. We will also keep requesting the Government to release additional grants."

There is another opinion that money already released is enough for organising the conference. Bidar sammelana has been sanctioned Rs 1.1 crores, from the Government, which is the highest ever released by any government for any sammelana.

The reception committee should stop asking for more money and go ahead with the preparations, says Basava Kalyan-based writer Bhavu Rao Patil.

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