"At least one acre of land," is what Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has sought from his Goa counterpart, Pramod Sawant, in order to build a 'Kannada Bhavan' in the coastal state, in an effort to promote Kannada art and culture.
“I am very happy to inform you that the Karnataka state government has decided to fulfil the long-pending demand of Kannadigas who live in Goa for decades, to have their own Kannada cultural Bhavan in Goa. To accomplish the desire of our Kannadigas there, our government has made provisions for grants in the state budget 2022-23. The Karnataka border area development authority (KBADA) is the nodal agency to implement this project," Bommai stated in a Times of India report.
He said that the Karnataka Border Area Development Authority (KBADA) chairman C Somasekhara IAS (retd.) is to meet with Sawant soon, in order to make a formal request on behalf of the Karnataka government.
"The only possibility is that the government of Goa be kind enough to allot the minimum extent of one acre for building the Kannada Bhavan in Goa, in a place resided by Kannadigas," he said.
Somasekhara has already met with Vasco MLA Krishna Salkar and the deputy collector of Goa and made a formal request to allot an acre of land by the Goa urban development agency. The KBADA also wrote several letters to Zuari Chemicals Ltd requesting the same.
But all efforts have since been futile, said Bommai.
As stated in the report, Bommai took up the case of the Konkani Academy, which was set up in Mangaluru, back in 1994, for which the Karnataka government even provided Rs 3 crore. Bommai added that his government had taken all steps to promote the Konkani language and literature in the southern state.