Delay in grants leaves many cultural bodies on brink

Cultural associations across the state are still awaiting the grants from Kannada and Cultural department for the year 2018-19.

Former Kannada and Culture minister D K Shivakumar had withheld the grants stating that there was a need to check the authenticity of the organisations.

The cultural associations expressed their anguish at the apathy of the government in releasing the grants. “Change of guard has not helped our cause. Months after the new government was formed, we are still forced to run from pillar to post to get the grants released,” an office-bearer of an association lamented.

“Many cultural associations at hobli, taluk and districts are on the verge of closure. The inordinate delay in sanctioning grants has affected at least 8,000 organisations across the state. Big organisations are managing with donations and loans, but the smaller ones are suffering for want of grants,” Narasimha, founder-secretary, Udayabhanu Kala Sangha, said.

Most of the organisations across Karnataka have stopped conducting cultural programmes as they are still unclear about receiving grants from the government.

Minister for Kannada and Culture C T Ravi said he was waiting for a supplementary budget to submit a proposal for the release of grants. “If the chief minister agrees for the supplementary budget, I will definitely raise the issue. The previous government had not only stopped the release of grants, but also failed to allocate funds (for the scheme) in the budget,” C T Ravi told DH.

Meanwhile, cultural associations have also opposed the decision taken by the previous government by making the Deputy Commissioner (DC) an authority to release the grants above Rs 2 lakh.

“DCs will be busy with a lot of other things. When we visit DC’s office, we get a poor response from the authorities. So, we request to revert to the old practice of releasing the amount by the department, which is being followed for decades,” Manikanta, president, Karunadu Samskruthika Sangha said.

When asked about delegation of powers on releasing grants to the DC, the minister said that he would look into the issue.