Cultural centre at birthplace of Siddaganga seer

The state government, through Kannada and Culture Department, has allocated Rs 25 crore each for building cultural and heritage centres at the birthplace of two seers. The much-appreciated border area development programme is, however, missing from the list of schemes.

A cultural and heritage centre will come up at Veerapura, the birthplace of Shivakumara Swami of Siddaganga Mutt and Balagangadharanatha Swami. The similar centre will come up at Bananduru in Bidadi taluk, the birthplace of Balagangadharanatha Swami, which will also be developed into a modern image.

The government has allocated Rs 10 crore for the development of Kodava community, Rs 5 crore for Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Development Authority, Rs 5 crore for Suttur Mutt to develop Mysuru Urban Haat and Rs 5 crore for Kengal Hanumanthaiah Hostel Trust, form a major part of allocations.

The government has promised Rs 2 crore grants for organising folk art festivals in each district. Another Rs 2 crore has been kept aside for 139 associations/organisations for Karaga festivals. The Janapada Parishath will be granted Rs 1 crore.

The government has promised Rs 2 crore to build a conventional hall in memory of Haasya Chakravarthi, the late Narasimharaju, in Tiptur.

In its annual budgets, the previous Congress government had allocated funds for border area development, an area that has been neglected for decades. Last year, while the Siddaramaiah government had allocated Rs 50 crore for the scheme in its interim budget, it was missing in the budget presented by Kumaraswamy.

The budget also misses the demands of activists who have been calling upon successive governments to give emphasis to digitisation.