Hyderabad: Kishan writes to CM KCR seeks 10 acres for Sangeet Natak Akademi

Hyderabad: Union Minister of Culture, Tourism, and DoNER G Kishan Reddy on Wednesday wrote to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao requesting him to identify and allot suitable land of 10 acres in the heart of Hyderabad for setting up the Sangeet NatakAkademi's regional centre

In his letter Reddy said that the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA),an autonomous body under the Ministry of Culture, would develop a "state of the art regional centre and a leading cultural space that would foster the cultural growth and performative milieu of the State."

The letter also said that the availability of infrastructure such as pre-existing structures and buildings will expedite the ministry's and SNA's efforts in commencing the centre at the earliest.

The Union minister stated that SNA currently has no presence in Telangana or Andhra.

The centre is envisaged for the promotion of research and documentation of music, folk and tribal arts, theatre and puppetry as all other regional centres of SNA cater to dance forms. Infrastructural requirements of the centre would include a library, documentation centre and an auditorium for performing art, including multifunctional space, beside the office space.

The Minister reminded the CM of Telangana's rich and diverse intangible cultural heritage that includes dance forms such as Perini Sivatandavam that have been patronised by the Kakatiya dynasty and traditional forms of story-telling such as Golla Suddulu, OgguKathalu, Gotralu and Chindu Bhagavatam.

"Telangana's large tribal population also give us the opportunity to showcase unique dance forms such as Gusadi, Lambadi, Mayuri and Dhimsa.

Apart from this, Telangana is also a bridge between northern and southern India as a home to several elements of syncretic Intangible Cultural Heritage", the minister added.

The akademi has the mandate to preserve and promote India's vast Intangible cultural heritage of diverse culture expressed in forms of music, dance and drama.

It now has two constituent units, the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy (JNMDA) at Imphal, and Kathak Kendra in Delhi. Besides, the akademi has five centres: Kutiyattam Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram, for preserving and promoting the age-old Sanskrit theatre of Kerala; Sattriya Kendra, Guwahati, for promoting the Sattriya traditions of Assam;. North-East Centre, Guwahati, for preserving the traditional and folk performing art traditions of north-eastern India; North-East Documentation Centre, Agartala, for festival and field documentation in the North-East; Chhau Kendra, Chandankiyari, for promoting the Chhau dances of eastern India.