The Telangana Government will leave no stone unturned in its endeavour to reconstruct, restore the glory of Telugu culture, literature and tradition in the new State, said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, starting with officially celebrating eminent poet Dasaradhi Krishnamacharya’s birthday.
As a first step, he announced the tripling of the budget allocation to Ravindra Bharathi from a mere Rs. 30 lakh to Rs. 1 crore from this year onwards and asked Principal Secretary,Culture, B.P. Acharya to circulate a file immediately in this connection, to thunderous applause from the gathering at the auditorium where the 89 birth anniversary of the people’s poet Dasaradhi was celebrated here on Tuesday.
“Those who said that Telugu culture and literature was promoted only in Andhra gave a paltry Rs. 30 lakh for this cultural and literary edifice and this Government will leave no stone unturned to transform the Ravindra Bharathi into a vibrant cultural and literary Centre of Excellence,” he said, pledging his support for promoting Telugu. The Chief Minister fondly recalled every teacher he had through his academic life, naming a dozen of them, especially those who taught him Telugu through school and college, starting from litterateur Tirumala Srinivasacharya, whom he met 45 years ago for the first time.
Mr. Rao specifically remembered how much he was influenced by Dasaradhi and his literature. He announced a statue for the poet, an annual memorial award with a cash prize Rs, 1,00,116 for a poet on behalf of the Department of Culture. He added that he was told how Dasaradhi’s family was in dire straits today and promised that in two or three days, he would get his son Lakshman, a Government job. Advisor to Government on Culture K.V. Ramanachari presided over the impressive function and others present included Vice-Chancellor of Potti Sriramulu Telugu University Yelluri Siva Reddy, poets Nandhini Siddha Reddy and Desapathi Srinivas. All of them sang praise of Dasaradhi’s literature and recalled how his revolutionary zeal against the Nizam’s oppression poured out from his heart and pen like molten lava.
