Balangir, Aug. 18: Theatre personalities from 11 districts in western Odisha met here today and floated a new theatre organisation called Paschim Odisha Natak Sangh because they felt the Odisha Sangeet Natak Academy was treating them unfairly.

Around 100 theatre activists took part in the deliberations and condemned the allegedly autocratic attitude of the Odisha Sangeet Natak Academy towards artistes of western Odisha.

President of the newly formed association Braja Mohan Mishra said the Sangh had been formed following continuous negligence by the academy. “This year, the academy is going to hold a state-level theatre festival. For this, it has divided the 30 districts into five zones. Surprisingly, there is only one zone for all the 11 districts of western Odisha,” he said, adding that western Odisha should get at least two zones.

He said he had protested about this, but the academy did not take notice. He said that when Padmashree Srinibas Udgata wrote to the academy about this, the academy replied that there were “no just alternatives”.

He said the academy had been harassing the theatre actors of the region. “Often, our artistes are not only neglected but also mentally harassed by the academy. The decision to hold the theatre festival was taken by the academy. But two members from western Odisha — Mohan Sahu and Hemanta Mahapatra — were not invited to the meeting. This is why we have decided to float this new theatre organisation,” he said.

Secretary of the organisation Gadadhar Barik said the Sangh would have its headquarters in Balangir.

“We have selected one artist from each district as representative. We have decided to produce and stage one play in each district every month. In this way, we will produce 11 plays in 11 districts in as many months. At the end of this, personalities from all the 11 districts will stage one play at a place with good infrastructure,” he said.