Kerala - Palakkad   

Move to make music fete a national event

CURTAIN DOWN: Home and Tourism Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan inaugurating the valedictory of the Kalpathy Music Festival in Palakkad on Saturday.

PALAKKAD: Minister for Home and Tourism Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said here on Saturday that the State government's request to the Centre to develop the Kalpathy Carnatic Music Festival as a national festival was under active consideration.

The Minister was addressing the gathering after inaugurating the valedictory of the six-day Kalpathy Carnatic Music Festival.

The Nishagandhi Music and Dance Festival organised by the State government in Thiruvananthapuram had become a national festival now, he said.

The State government had increased financial assistance to the Kalpathy music festival to Rs.3 lakh this year. More assistance would be given to promote it to make it a national festival, he said.

Mr. Balakrishnan said the district had gifted many singers and artistes to the State. It had a very rich heritage and cultural tradition.

The government had also sanctioned a heritage museum for Palakkad and its construction would begin in Malampuzha, he said. The State government was taking steps to protect the heritage centres in the State and make them world-class heritage centres to attract international tourists. A Rs.1,000-crore heritage tourism centre was coming up at Kodungalloor. The second heritage project was started at Thalassery at a cost of Rs.200 crore.

He said the State government promoted responsible tourism by protecting the heritage, culture and environment of the State.

The government gave top priority to developing tourism in the State and in the current financial year, an amount of Rs.600 crore was sanctioned for development of tourism.

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