Bijapur getting ready for Kannada meet

BIJAPUR: Preparations for the 79th all India Kannada sahitya sammelana to be held here from February 9-11 is going on in full swing at the Sainik School grounds here.Construction work of the main water-proof pendal (300x600 feet) having a sitting capacity of 15, 000 delegates is getting ready. There will also be a main stage (50x100 feet) where nearly 200 persons sit.Prasad Gai, owner of the Rukmangad mantap, who has taken the responsibility of erecting the pendals, said, "Nearly 9500 tin sheets have bee used for the main platform.''There will be 600 books stall measuring 10x10 feet and 200 commercial stalls of the same size at the conference, said Vijaykumar Halakude, PWD assistant executive engineer. The media section will have nearly 60 computers. It will be fully air-conditioned. Around 500 media persons can file their stories from the centre. There will be a separate arrangement for food for the media people, said information officer B R Ranganath.Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Women's University teaching and non-teaching staff on Monday handed over a cheque for Rs. 1,75,720 to the sammelana.President of the non-teaching staff association R Ghatage and secretary Subhash Kamble gave the cheque to district in charge Minister S K Bellubbi.