Kannada Sammelana will be held in Nov: Champa

Bangalore, Apr 25: The next Kannada Sahitya Sammelana would be held in Shimoga tentatively in November, Prof Chandrashekar Patil, the president of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat said here on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, the preliminary discussions on holding the Sammelana has already begun. Water Resources Minister K S Eshwarappa has assured of full cooperation in this regard. If everything goes according to the plan, the Sammelana would be held in November itself, he added.

Bidar Sammelana had several bottlenecks from the very initial stage. There would not be such problems in Shimoga. There is widespread enthusiasm among the people here. We are also confident of government cooperation. We will hold preliminary discussions at the earliest and take measures to set up various committees. This will set the momentum for the big event, Mr Patil stated.

The construction of a new building for the Parishat would take off by November. This will also help in intensifying activities aimed at preserving Kannada language and culture. A blue-print has already been prepared and submitted to the government, Parishat chairman said.

Parishat has submitted a Rs 5 crore proposal to the government and the organisation has set aside Rs 1 crore for the same in its annual budget, he added. The new building will be completed in a phased manner, he added.

New dimension

All the district units of the Parishat are functioning actively. The concept of membership has also taken a new dimension and the outfit is no more limited to the writers alone. It has also emerged as an important forum working for the preservation of Kannada language and culture.

The membership has increased by 35,000 this year, Mr Patil added.

There were as many as 40,000 members till a year ago. However, the membership has touched 75,000 now. It will cross 1 lakh before I lay down office, he added.

Mr Patil charged Maharashtra of unnecessarily raking up border row with an eye on political gains. "Political parties in Maharashtra have hoisted border row just for the sake of obtaining political mileage. Through which they are trying to heap psychological torture on Kannadigas. The demand for converting Karwar and Goa into Union territories is nothing but manifestation of utter frustration," he observed.

Sources