BANGALORE: The issue of renovation of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat's `Krishnaraja Parishanmandira' came up for the second time during the short tenure of H.D. Deve Gowda as Chief Minister.

Mr. Deve Gowda had promised to release Rs. 1.25 crores for building a new two-storeyed structure and agreed to be the Chairman of the Parishanmandira Building Consultative Committee.

The parishat, which was then headed by Go. Ru. Channabasappa, had set out to build a new structure that would follow the basic design of the existing building. But it could not make any headway as it failed to clarify how the basic design of the building would be kept intact while dismantling the structure.

In June 2003, the then Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, personally inspected the premises. He instructed the then Commissioner of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Jayakar Jerome, to undertake complete renovation of the building, and an official order was issued to that effect on March 6, 2004.

However, the parishat and the BDA could not reach a consensus on various issues, including maintaining the design of the building in conformity with the "bylaws of Vastu Shastra."

The present President of the parishat, Chandrashekar Patil, submitted two proposals, including one for renovation of the building, directly to the Dharam Singh-led Government. He was confident that the proposal would be accepted this time as the Government will be observing the golden jubilee year of the reorganisation of the State from November 6, 2006. But to the dismay of the parishat, the Government fell even as the parishat was busy finalising its `Suvarna Karnataka' programmes.

Under the `Suvarna Karnataka' programmes, the parishat has sought an assistance of Rs. 2 crores for holding cultural jathas in all the 52 border taluks for 15 days (Rs. 37.5 lakhs); organising seminars on the reorganisation of the State, and cultural programmes (Rs.48 lakhs); creating Kannada awareness among students and Horanadu Kannadigas in collaboration with universities (Rs.22.5 lakhs); publication of 50 research works in Kannada and English, which will be useful to scholars, students of literatures and others (Rs. 42 lakhs); and establishing a `Suvarna Karnataka' research centre on the third floor of its proposed golden jubilee building (Rs. 50 lakhs).

When asked for his comments, Prof. Patil told The Hindu over telephone from Shimoga that if the Government thinks that the parishat has not followed the procedures in submitting the two proposals, it will take corrective measures to avoid further delay.

(Concluded)

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail