The State Government has sanctioned ₹4.41 crore for acquisition of land for Kuchipudi Natyaramam in Kuchipudi village under Movva mandal of Krishna district. The total cost of the project is estimated at ₹100 crore.
An order released a couple of days ago allowed the Department of Language and Culture to file a request to the Collector for acquisition of 56.11 acres in Kuchipudi village. The Kuchipudi Natyaramam is seen as one of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s pet projects.
Ultra modern plans
The news has unsettled many residents of the village, suggesting that the ultra modern plans of Anand Kuchibhotla, chairman of the Natyaramam, have not gone down well with them.
The plan is to develop an international dance academy at the ancient village to attract dance enthusiasts and others, including tourists, to the place from across the world.
Refuting the government’s claim that the move is aimed at “preserving the tradition and reviving a dying art’, villagers argue that the government cannot think of giving shape to its grandiose plans at the cost of villagers.
“Villagers and Kuchipudi artists here are kept in the dark. We have no clue about what is being done to our lands, our ancient temple and the local landscape which is the lifeline of Kuchipudi village. Since teaching dance alone is not enough, villagers depend on agriculture for livelihood. If their lands are taken away, where will they go?
“I am also told that as per the altered plan, 14.3 cents of the village temple, which is also an ancient architectural marvel, will go in the land acquisition. This is disturbing,” says the temple trustee Pasumarthy Kesava Prasad.
Mr. Prasad, who is also the founder secretary of Akhila Bharat Kuchipudi Natya Kalamandali at Kuchipudi, says the temple revenue is used to pay salaries to the archakas and to fulfil other small needs.
“This is yet another means to mint money in the name of art,” alleges an angry Vempati Venkat, son of the legendary Kuchipudi dance guru Vempati Chinna Satyam.
“We were given an impression that the venue of the project has been shifted to Amaravati. There is sanctity associated with the dance form which is being given a quiet burial,” says Mr. Venkat. Citing the fact that there were 14 colleges of music and dance in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, he wonders what stopped the government from developing them all these years.
The Kuchipudi project would just be added to that list. The Natyaramam would be a mere brick-and-mortar structure as there would not be a “Master guru” (a reference to his father) to teach the dance in its original form, he said.
KNC created
To facilitate implementation of the much talked about Kuchipudi Natyaramam, the Government created a Kuchipudi Natyaramam Corporation (Registration number: 098117) with Anand Kuchibhotla and Kanapala Sasi Babu as its Directors on January 21, 2016.
