The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Controversies dog literary body

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Wednesday, Jun 27, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Controversies dog literary body

Correspondent

OSA has no president or secretary

An official controls the Akademi’s activities
War of words between office- bearers continue

BHUBANESWAR: It seems the Orissa Sahiya Akademi and controversies have become synonymous with each other. Proclaimed as an autonomous organisation set up by the government, the literary body of the State is ‘arbitrarily’ controlled by the government as evident from its prevailing condition.

The akademi has no president nor secretary while a deputy director of the culture directorate controls its activities for best reasons known to the government. The akademi’s constitution envisages that the tenure of the president and the secretary shall be for three years.

But in reality, these posts hardly find takers for full tenure for ‘political and bureaucratic interferences,’ feel several insiders.

Poor budget

“There is an effort to bring in a particular person as the akademi’s secretary who was controversial during his earlier tenure as an office- bearer.

The provision says that the secretary has to be paid a maximum of monthly remuneration of Rs. 5,000, but as the person in question is a lecturer of UGC scale, the akademi’s shoe-string budget would be inadequate to meet his salary expenses,” say sources seeking anonymity.

When contacted, most of the litterateurs feel there should not be any repetition in appointment of the same persons as the akademi’s office- bearers.

Awards row

While a case is still pending with the court of law against the akademi’s choice of annual awardees, the war of words between the akademi’s general council member, Souribandhu Kar, and the vice-president, Hussian Rabi Gandhi, has hinted at the sad state of the institution’s internal affairs.

Efforts to elicit the views of authorities on the akademi’s affairs proved futile as the secretary in-charge has been transferred.

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Andhra Pradesh