Berhampur: Drama and dance artists in this south Odisha town have launched an agitation to highlight their demands, including setting up of a well-equipped auditorium for holding cultural programmes.
They also want lowering of the rent of the town hall to organise cultural activities and repair of the halls of the cultural organisations which were damaged in the cyclone Phailin of October 12.
The artists, who staged a demonstration here yesterday, submitted a memorandum to the revenue divisional commissioner, southern division addressed to chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
There is no auditorium in the town except the town hall of the BMC for performing cultural activities, with other halls damaged in Phailain. The cultural organisations in the town are now unable to pay the high rent fixed by the BMC to perform shows,? said the representatives of several cultural organizations
Rent of the town hall is Rs 16,000 per day at present. We urged BMC to lower the rent, said senior artists, Upendra Mishra and Lingaraj Jena.
The buildings of cultural and literary organisations like Ganjam Kala Parishad, Gopal Krushana Rangamanch and Prakasham Hall were damaged in the last cyclone. We also urged the government to repair these halls immediately added other artists including Anil Kumar Patra and Raju Padhy.
?Berhampur is well-known as the cultural center of the south Odisha. But sadly there is not an auditorium," said noted dancer Usharani Bramha.
The artists have also expressed their dissatisfaction over the delay on the construction work of the proposed Biju Patnaik Sanskrutika Bhawan in the town.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had laid foundation stone for construction of the Bhawan in 2004. But the construction was yet to start due to some reasons.