Wide Protests Against Marketing Pattanam Archaeology Under the Guise of Binale Festival and Tourism
http://expressbuzz.com/states/kerala/prominent-artists-seek-vigilance-probe/345906.html
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A group of leading artists in the state who gathered here to protest against the suspicious way in the conduct of Kochi- Muziris- Biennale, have called for a Vigilance probe into the granting of crores of rupees to a Trust in the name of promotion of art.
The group comprising nationally-acclaimed artists including C L Porinjukutty, Kanayi Kunhiraman, K K Rajappan, K C Chithrabhanu, N N Rimson, Tensing Joseph, Shibu Lopez, Nemom Pushparaj, T V Chandran, Gopikrishnan and Ajith Kumar G told a news conference the other day that the international art festival, which is the first of its kind being hosted in Kochi, has already come under scathing attack from the art fraternity for various reasons like not including the local artists and portraying the traditional art form of Kathakali in a vulgar manner in its brochure. The artists demanded that the State Government revoke the previous LDF Government’s decision to grant an exorbitant sum of over Rs 70 crore without following any norms to the Biennale organisers, Kochi Biennale Foundation, a public charitable Trust governed by the provisions of Indian Trust Act(Act II of 1882) led by its president Bose Krishnamaachary and secretary Riyas Komu. The previous LDF government had sanctioned a sum of `73.2 crore for the conduct of Biennale from the Kochi Muziris project fund. The Department of Tourism had sanctioned the release of `5 crore to the Kochi Biennale Foundation to meet the initial cost. They said this sum was unacceptably high as similar events like the Triennale of Central Lalitha Kala Akademi and International Film Festival of Kerala of State Chalachitra Academy were conducted with a budget of around Rs 3 crore. Moreover, the organising of the event had been undertaken by a Mumbai-based private agency, which was not accountable to the State Government in any way.The State Lalitha Kala Akademy had been kept at a distance from the conduct of the international event. Hence, there was a possibility of the grant being misused. Since the government had granted the sum as a monetary aid, the organisers did not have to submit the accounts of the transactions before the government, they alleged. In addition, the previous government had granted several crores of rupees to the Kochi Muziris Foundation Trust for various proposals like installation of statues on roadsides from Nedumbassery airport to Ernakulam and establishment of Kochi Biennale schools without consulting the experts, the artists alleged. It has been pointed out that while Rs 5 crore was allotted as initial cost of the activities including that of the renovation of the Kochi Durbar Hall gallery, the Trust had claimed that they had spent Rs 3.5 crore for renovation itself. The artists claimed that the expense must have been cost only Rs 1.5 crore.The artists wanted the State Government to conduct a Vigilance probe against all concerned including former Cultural Affairs Minister M A Baby as he had visited Venice Binennale along with Trust office-bearers, while he kept the Kochi-Biennale venture as a secret from the artists and art historians of the state
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