As expected, the three-day Vishwa Tuluvere Parba 2014 on Sunday resolved to urge the government to drop the controversial Yettinahole river diversion project; allow performance of modified Kambala and get Tulu included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
However, no resolution was passed on the Kasturirangan Committee report on the Western Ghats.
While the former Chief Minister M. Veerappa Moily, the architect of Yettinahole project, did not show up for the festival, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who was supposed to deliver the valedictory address skipped the event on health grounds even though he landed at the Mangaluru International Airport on Sunday morning.
Mr. Siddaramaiah also did not attend two other scheduled programmes, one at Alike and another at Ujire.
The other resolutions passed in the Parba included a demand to introduce Tulu as the third language in schools in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts; dropping various projects that could affect agriculture in these districts; rename Mangaluru International Airport as Tulunada International Airport and introduce Tulu at the airport and railway stations in the two districts.
Study neededSpeaking at the valedictory, Udupi Pejawar Math Seer Sri Vishwesha Tirtha Swami said the river diversion project should not be implemented without scientific study and without convincing people in the coastal region. Otherwise the project could neither benefit people in the hinterlands nor those in the coastal region, the Swami warned.
Besides protecting the Tulu language, the Tulu land should also be protected, he said.
The valedictory in the evening was attended by Dakshina Kannada district in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai, Minister for Health and Family Welfare U.T. Khader and Minister of State for Fisheries and Youth Services K. Abhayachandra Jain, MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari D. Veerendra Heggade, executive president of the Parba Organising Committee Dharmapala U. Devadiga, Bhandari Education Foundation president Manjunath Bhandari — on whose Sahyadri Engineering College premises the Parba is being held — among others.
However, Mr. Rai in his address did touch upon the Kasturirangan Report.
He said the government had recommended to the Centre to relax conditions for the benefit of people while declaring eco-sensitive zones.
Absent dignitariesBesides Mr. Moily, Union Minister for Law and Justice D.V. Sadananda Gowda, who hails from the district, too did not attend the three-day meet though he was invited.
While Mr. Moily had mooted the river diversion project, it was during Mr. Gowda’s stewardship that the project got government approval.
