Kendrapara, Dec. 20: The district collectorate compound today turned into an open-air stage with hundreds of folk artistes staging a rally to demand fulfilment of the livelihood support packages for the community and its stakeholders.
The audience relished the scene with artistes staging live shows.
The protestors almost laid siege to the collectorate building, forcing the authorities to step up security to avert any untoward situation.
"The protest rally and the demonstration by the artistes were peaceful. They were seeking disbursal of pension and incentives by the government. They performed live shows to showcase their art forms in front of the collectorate. It was entertainment for everybody. Even the policemen who were on law and order duty relished skilful performance by the folk art artistes," said Kendrapara police station inspector Sanjeev Mohanty.
"The state government has meted us a raw deal. The poor and aged artistes are on the verge of starvation due to lack of governmental patronage. The fold art forms such as daskathia, sankirtan, pala, ghodanacha, gotipua nacha, kendhei nacha, Ramlila and various other art forms would go into oblivion as the government is shying away from providing us the much-needed financial support," alleged the Zilla Kala Sanskruti Sangha president Mahanta Abhaya Charan Das.
"To protest against government apathy, we hit the streets today and displayed our artistic attributes in ample measures. A large crowd had turned up at the site and appreciated our open-air performance. We are hopeful that the government agencies would take note of our skill and redress our grievances," he said.
A 66-year-old artiste of Daskathia, a traditional form of storytelling, Natabar Behera, said: "The government had decided to provide Rs 1,000 monthly kalakar (artiste) pension to the male and female artistes, who attained the age 60 and 50 years, respectively. I have applied for the pension since past six years. But I am yet to be empanelled for it. Because of advancing age, I am unable to perform now on a regular basis. I am landless and have no other source of income. If the government does not come to my rescue, I will starve to death in near future."
A 75-year-old Pala artist, Gopabandhu Natha, said: "The government is insensitive towards traditional folk art players. After more than a decade of patient wait, I was provided with monthly kalakar pension last year. Hundreds of deserving, jobless and retired artistes are languishing in penury. They deserve to figure in the list of pension beneficiaries like me."
"The administration is aware of the artistes' plight. As many as 908 folk artistes have been registered and recognised by the district administration. Large numbers of them are eligible for monthly kalakar pension scheme. Their applications are under active consideration of the state culture department. At present, 58 elderly artistes are being disbursed Rs 1,000 monthly pension. Next month, the administration would invite fresh applications from eligible artistes for the pension scheme," said district culture officer Dillip Kumar Nayak.
