'Utilise '100 crore on protection of monuments'

Speaking at a workshop on folklore and traditional style art camp function organised in connection with 125th anniversary of Department of Archaeology and Museums here on Thursday, he said of late, a lot of impetus is being given for the protection of monuments and the department has to make use of the funds released by the Finance Commission within the stipulated time. 

After Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka has more than 700 protected monuments across the State. Recently, the Ancient Monument Protection Act has been further strengthened by making necessary amendments. Accordingly, secretary, Department of Kannada and Culture are appointed for Mysore and Bangalore division and regional commissioner of Belgaum for Belgaum and Gulbarga Divisions, as officers to ensure that no structure comes up within the 100 mtrs of the protected monuments. Ramesh B Jhalki, secretary, Department of Kannada and Culture, opined that it was possible to protect the monuments if people join hands with the department. Former vice-chancellor, University of Mysore, Prof D Javaregowda who gave away the prizes to winners of the drawing competition, stressed on the need for setting up a history museum in the State and wanted the government to work in this direction. If the land is not available in Bangalore, the museum may be set up either in Mysore or any other part of the State.

The senior artists who are participating in this ten-day workshop are; Eshwarnayak from Shimoga, M Kambar from Bangalore, Chikmath from Dharwad, K Kale from Sandur, Kamal Ahmed from Karkala, Munimohan from Bangalore, Anand from Mysore, Sridharrao J S, Umadevi K S, Chandrika, B L Mahesh, Jaywanth from Manipal and H S Shivakumar.
Dr R Gopal, director, Department of Archaeology and Museums, Mysore said the camp would be held for ten days.