Same old faces in Karavali Utsav panel

MANGALORE : Contrary to the speculation that there would be a change in the Karavali Utsav Samithi this year, in the backdrop of complaints of irregularities last time, the district administration even this time has preferred against making any changes in the committee. The Karaval Utsav, which has now become a regular annual feature, while aiming at encouraging and patronising art and culture of the district, also aims at accruing some revenue for the district administration. However, last year, the Karavali Utsav committee had to face complaints of financial irregularities.
The demand to revamp the Karavali Utsav samithi has gone unheeded even this time as the lure for money was just above everything.
One of the members of this committee is a person who claims himself to be a musician. Last year, during the Utsav, most of the efforts of this Samithi member was directed towards organising a music programme of his son. The honorarium given to the artiste was Rs 15,000 while other expenses stood at Rs 10,000. Though the cultural programme venue had faced dearth of chairs for other interesting programmes, on this particular occasion, the chairs at the venue exceeded 1000 while the actual listeners had not crossed even 50.
This very member, had even organised a classical music programme of a singer from Mumbai and for this purpose had been to and fro Mumbai thrice by flight along with his better half. While one trip was to fix the programme, the other was to accompany the musician, and the last one to bid him farewell. The honorarium given to the artiste was Rs 10,000 while the expenses of the programme stood at Rs 30,000.
Usually, there are no takers for classical music at such exhibitions where the crowd gathers to enjoy and have fun and even the occasion is not conducive for classical music concerts that need peaceful surroundings.
Apart from this singer, there is businessman Narendra Nayak and Sahitya Parishat president Pradeep Kalkura in the committee.
While what sort of Karavali Utsav could be expected from such a committee is one question, the other question is whether the district administration too did not mind irregularities.
A meeting held at the DC office recently to finalise matters pertaining to the Karavali Utsav, decided to hold the exhibition from December 21. The tender amount has been fixed at a staggering Rs 70 lakh while the amount was Rs 44 lakh last year.