BANGALORE: As the launch of the Suvarna Karnataka celebrations on November 1 to mark the golden jubilee year of the formation of the State nears, the Department of Kannada and Culture is awaiting the Government's clearance for its proposal to organise a `Janapada Jatre' throughout the State at an estimated cost of over Rs. 4 crore.

The department is anxious about the fate of the jatre because certain rules have to be followed under the Transparency Act.

Confirming that the proposal was pending with the Department of Finance, Special Commissioner for Suvarna Karnataka K.R. Niranjan told The Hindu that the Act states that tenders have to be invited for all government expenditure exceeding Rs. 1 lakh.

`Tenders impractical'

But inviting tenders for holding a cultural fete was impractical, Mr. Niranjan said. The department had urged the Government to take steps to exempt its jatre proposal from the rule. The jatre is scheduled to be held from October to March 2007 and again from April to November 2007 throughout the State, he said.

The Government has earmarked Rs. 50 crore for the Suvarna Karnataka celebrations and an additional Rs. 10 crore for holding a Kannada convention in Belgaum. Although the Department of Kannada and Culture had prepared a comprehensive plan for the jatre with a budget of Rs. 1.10 crore, it inexplicably increased the budget to Rs. 5 crore on the ground that it wanted to make it a State-level event.

A 21-member committee headed by the Secretary, Kannada and Culture, and Information and Tourism, I.M. Vittalmurthy, met on September 15 at the Kannada Bhavan in Bangalore and co-opted the services of Nataka Academy chairman Srinivas G. Kappanna. But the meeting did not discuss financial details pertaining to the jatre.

However, on August 16, Mr. Kappanna submitted a Rs. 4-crore proposal for organising the jatre. This was contested by a group of folk artistes and others at an informal gathering.

The president of cultural wing of the Janata Dal (Secular) and a former member of the Janapada and Yakshagana Academy, K.H. Kumar, who claimed that he was present at the gathering, said Mr. Kappanna had attempted to get his proposal cleared. But a group of folk and theatre experts insisted on the formation of the 21-member committee, he said.

Denies submitting plan

But Mr. Kappanna denied submitting any such proposal to the Government. "I have not submitted any proposal or action plan or estimate either to the Government or to the Department of Kannada and Culture," he asserted.

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