HASSAN: The languishing project of the Karnataka Lalithakala Academy (KLA) to set up a Regional Art Centre (RAC) in Hassan seems to be gaining momentum. When the inordinate delay in establishing the centre was brought to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's notice during his recent visit to Hassan, he directed the district authorities to locate 10 acres of land for setting up the centre. He asked principal secretary to the Department of Kannada and Culture, Tourism and Information I.M. Vittal Murthy to hasten the process of forming a trust for the purpose. The idea of setting up the centre came up when the KLA conducted a seven-day State-level camp, annual exhibition and award ceremony in Hassan in 2002. Then academy member artist B.S. Desai proposed the idea of setting up the centre in Hassan on the lines of RACs functioning in Chennai, Bhuvaneshwar, Nagpur and New Delhi. Former chairman of KLA Peter Lewis who appealed to the Central Lalithakala Academy (CLA) to set up the centre in Hassan justified his choice by citing the architectural splendour of the district. A delegation led by Mr. Lewis approached then Deputy Commissioner L.K. Atheeq for suitable site. He suggested two sites, one adjacent to the Karnataka Milk Federation's (KMF) Cattle Feed plant and the other abutting the Channapatnakere tank. The site adjacent to the plant was selected owing to its proximity to the national highway.

However, problems cropped up when the Government decided to acquire the land approved for the centre to build a truck terminus. But the land was saved thanks to the intervention of former Revenue Minister H.C. Srikantaiah.

The KLA sought Rs. 3.40 lakh from the department for fencing the land, but the officials failed in responding to the proposal positively. Intervention of the Development Commissioner Chiranjeevi Singh also failed in enthusing the authorities. After the formation of the coalition Government in 2004, the KMF decided to set up an additional plant on the land allotted for the RAC to expand capacity of the existing cattle feed plant. According to Mr. Lewis, well-known architect Kanade prepared a plan envisaging a 500-seat theatre, an open-air auditorium, a folk museum, an art gallery of international standards, a library, a mini-cinema, a lecture hall, conference room, studio and a guesthouse.

Members of KLA suggested to the department to form a trust to promote the project and sent a draft proposal to form an 11-member trust. However,

The authorities did not fulfil the promise to convene a meeting to finalise the trust. A proposal to invite a team of experts from Bhuvaneshwar, Nagpur and

New Delhi to extract opinion did not materialise. The Department of Kannada and Culture is now taking steps to finalise the formation of the trust and Deputy Commissioner K.H. Ashwathanarayana Gowda with the help of local MLA Prakash is looking for a suitable site.

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