New panel to decide venue of literary meet

AURANGABAD: The Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal has constituted a seven-member committee to select the venue for the 85th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, an all-India Marathi literary meet. The decision was taken following the refusal of the Marathi Wangmayin Parishad, Vadodara, to convene the prestigious event.
Five different cities/towns in Maharashtra, including a tiny village, have come forward to organise the coveted event.
Vadodara refused to organise the event citing technical difficulties. Following this, Undangaon, a small village in Sillod taluka of Aurangabad district, approached the Mahamandal with a request to organise the sammelan. But this proposal led to a spat between Undangaon villagers and Kautikrao Thale Patil, president of the Marathwada Sahitya Parishad, who had expressed reservations about the proposal saying it was difficult for a tiny village of 10,000 people to manage such a big event.
"Meanwhile, the Mahamandal received proposals from Dadar, Chandrapur, Saswad (Pune) and Karad (Satara). This development was discussed at the third World Marathi Sahitya Sammelan held in Singapore, on August 14. It was decided that a selection committee be formed comprising four Mahamandal office-bearers and representatives of different sahitya parishads," said K S Atkare, former secretary of the Mahamandal.
The committee will include Mahamandal president Usha Tambe (Mumbai), vice-president Kapur Wasnik (Chhattisgarh), secretary Ujwala Mehendale (Mumbai), Gurunath Dalvi (treasurer) and representatives of Mahamandal's constituents, including Kautikrao Thale Patil (Marathwada Sahitya Parisahd), Madhavi Vaidya (Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad Pune) and Srikant Tidke (Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh). These members will meet on August 29. "If needed, they will visit all the places from where invitations have come and submit their report at the executive meeting, which will decide the venue," said Atkare.
Atkare said that after finalising the venue, the election process would follow. It takes at least three months to conduct the elections and the Sahitya Sammelan is likely to he held in January end or in February next year.
Meanwhile, Shrikant Joshi, senior BJP leader and former MLC, who was among those who promoted the idea of Undangaon hosting the event, said, "It would have been a novel idea to organize the Sammelan in a village. The fact is that villages are the strength of the country and Maharashtra. Marathi language and culture is being preserved and nourished in villages."
Undangaon has a long tradition of organising literary events for the last 40 years. The village, situated 2.5 km from the Aurangabad-Jalgaon national highway, is just 20 km from Sillod and is located in the precinct of World Heritage monuments -- Ajanta and Ellora. "When Vadodara refused, we came forward to organize the event in Undangaon, which recently convened Marathwada Sahitya Parishad convention," he said.
Joshi said since Sahitya Sammelan is a planned activity they could know the number of visitors and participants through registration. "We could provide best of accommodations in tents with good civic amenities. It is not only Undagaon but people of neighbouring villages too are eager to organize a big event and are ready to bear whatever cost it may incur," Joshi added.