Udupi: Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha said on Tuesday that the district administration would soon launch a system of registering public grievances through email.

She was speaking after inaugurating the Crime Prevention Month organised by the Udupi district police at the Town Hall here.

Ms. Hemalatha said that cooperation of people was essential for crime prevention. Most of the crimes could be prevented if people were cautious.

Superintendent of Police Pravin Pawar said that the district police would launch a system of registering crime reports through SMS before this month-end. There was one policeman for every 980 persons in the district. The State Government had started recruiting police personnel.

Steps would be taken to bring this ratio in the State on a par with that of developed countries in about two or three years, he said. Quick and better reporting of crime from the people could help the police in reducing the response time. “Society is the eyes and ears of the police,” Mr. Pawar said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Jayanth Shetty delivered the introductory remarks. President of the Udupi City Muncipal Council Dinakar Shetty was present.

Udupi: The Department of Health and Family Welfare will be distributing diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) and albendazole tablets to 11,45,592 people in Udupi district under the mass drug administration programme on December 11 to prevent the spread of lymphatic filariasis.

District Health and Family Welfare Officer Ramachandra Bairy told presspersons here on Monday that all persons, except children below two years, pregnant women, aged persons and seriously ill patients, should take the tablets. One DEC tablet should be given to children between two and five, two DEC tablets to children between six and 14, and three tablets to those above 15 years. The DEC tablets should be taken after food. All persons above two years would also be given one albendazole tablet each, which should be chewed, he said.

These tablets would be available at 54 primary health centres and community health centres, and 314 health sub-centres. As many as 1,966 booths would be set up throughout the district, and 5,500 volunteers would help in distributing the tablets, Dr. Bairy said.

Some persons might experience side-effects such as vomiting, drowsiness and itching after consuming the DEC tablets. To deal with such problems, the department had formed 81 reaction teams. The department would distribute the tablets on December 12 and 13 to those who might be left out on December 11, he said.

As many as 961 cases of lymphatic filariasis had been recorded in Udupi district since January 2004, Dr. Bairy said.

Udupi: The District Health and Family Welfare Officer, Ramachandra Bairy, said here on Monday that four students of the Government Higher Primary School at Koderi in Kirimanjeshwara Gram Panchayat limits had tested negative for A(H1N1).

Addressing presspersons here, Dr. Bairy said the nasal swabs of the four students had been sent for testing to Kasturba Hospital on December 5 after they showed symptoms of the disease. These four were in close contact with two students of the same school who were infected with A(H1N1). The ix students were now recovering at home.

A total of 109 students of the school who developed flu-like symptoms on December 2 were also recovering.

The decision on reopening the Koderi Government Higher Primary School would be taken on Tuesday afternoon. Holidays had been declared for the school till Tuesday. Replying to a question, he said the Health Department had a stock of 5,000 Tamiflu tablets and there was no shortage of tablets in the district.

Students from 43 high schools in Udupi Assembly constituency participating in the event

Concern over lack of enlightened audience for the art form

TRADITIONAL: Students performing Yakshagana at the inauguration of the programme in Udupi on Monday.

Udupi: Karnataka Yakshagana Academy Chairman Kumble Sundar Rao said on Monday that the future of Yakshagana was bright.

He was speaking after inaugurating a three-week Yakshagana festival, Kishore Yaksha Sambhrama, here. Students from 43 high schools in Udupi Assembly constituency will display their Yakshagana talent during the festival.

The event has been organised by the Yaksha Shikshana Trust, in association with the Karnataka Yakshagana Academy, the Department of Public Instruction and the Paryaya Puttige Math.

Mr. Rao said that Yakshagana had ingredients such as gorgeous costumes, enchanting dance and powerful dialogues, which made it a wholesome cultural educator and entertainer. If there was shortage of artistes, Yakshagana gurus were ready to train them, he said.

However, the lifestyle of the people had changed. They were leading stressful lives. No one was ready to sit for a whole night to watch a Yakshagana performance. Hence, what Yakshagana lacked was an enlightened audience. But by training high school students in this art form, the Yaksha Shikshana Trust, headed by K. Raghupati Bhat, MLA, was not only promoting it but also creating an audience for it, he said.

Yakshagana should not be treated as a mere extracurricular activity. It should be made a part of the education of students, Mr. Rao said.

Mr. Bhat said that there was a fear in some quarters that if high school students started learning Yakshagana, their studies would be affected. But the examination results of the last three yearshad shown that there was no negative impact on their studies, he said.

President of Udupi Zilla Panchayat Gladys Almeida said that the zilla panchayat would donate Rs. 5 lakh from the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to the trust. Sugunendra Tirtha Swamiji of Puttige Math said that the headquarters of the Karnataka Yakshagana Academy should be in Udupi, as it was centrally located among the coastal districts.

Managing trustee of the Janardhan and Mahakali temples N.B. Vijay Ballal, president of Yakshagana Kalaranga Tallur Shivaram Shetty and professor at Indiana University, U.S., Rajendra Kedlaya were present.

The inauguration was followed by the Yakshagana performance “Shweta Kumara Charitre” by students of Sri Narayana Guru English Medium High School, Malpe.

Udupi: Ramachandra Bairy, District Health and Family Welfare Officer, said on Sunday that the department had completed fever surveillance of 724 of the 1,152 houses in Kirimanjeshwara gram panchayat in Udupi district, where two boys aged 12 tested positive for A(H1N1) on December 4.

Dr. Bairy told The Hindu that during the surveillance, 24 adults and 33 children below 12 years were found having mild fever. Routine treatment was being given to all of them.

The surveillance of the remaining 428 houses in Kirimanjeshwara gram panchayat was expected to be completed on Monday, he said.

The two boys of Government Higher Primary School at Koderi in Kirimanjeshwara gram panchayat area, who had tested positive for A(H1N1), and four students of the same school whose nasal swabs had been sent for testing, were recovering. The report of the four students, whose nasal swabs had been sent for tests to the Kasturba Hospital in Manipal, was expected on Monday. The rest 109 students of the same school, who had flu-like symptoms, were also recovering, he said.

Fever surveillance had been taken up in the nearby Byndoor and Marvanthe primary health centres (PHCs). Besides, all PHCs in the district had been asked to take up routine fever surveillance.

All schools in the district had also been asked to report any case of students suffering from fever to the nearest PHC.

This responsibility had been entrusted to the class teachers and the headmasters of the schools, Dr. Bairy said.

Udupi: The Yaksha Shikshana Trust, in association with the Karnataka Yakshagana Academy, Department of Public Instruction and the Paryaya Puttige Math, will be organising Yakshagana festival “Kishore Yaksha Sambhrama” in Udupi district from December 7 to 28.

A press release issued by the trust here on Sunday stated that over 1,000 students from 43 high schools in the Udupi Assembly segment were being given training in Yakshagana.

Students of 30 high schools would give Yakshagana performances daily at Rajangana in Udupi from December 7 to 20. Students of the remaining 13 schools would be giving Yakshagana performances daily at the Rotary Bhavan in Brahmavar, the press release said.

Chairman of the Karnataka Yakshagana Academy Kumble Sundar Rao would preside over the inaugural function of the Kishore Yaksha Sambhrama at Rajangana on December 7, the press release said.

Udupi: Chairman of the Yakshagana Academy Kumble Sundar Rao said on Saturday that performing arts could survive only if there were dedicated artistes.

He was speaking at a function to mark the birth centenary of Yakshagana artistes Kondadakuli Rama Hegde and Kondadakuli Lakshman Hegde, and the decennial of Purnachandra Yaksha Kala Pratishtana here.

Mr. Rao said that the survival of Yakshagana was not dependent on those who expressed lip sympathy for it. It was necessary to remember great Yakshagana artistes of the past. Similarly, it was essential to recognise the talent of existing artistes. The younger generation should be made aware of the richness of Indian arts and art forms, he said. Nine persons were felicitated on the occasion. They are Venkatesh Rao Jalavalli (pradhana vesha); Narayan Bhagwat Nebur (bhagavata); Ramachandra Rao Kolyur (stree vesha); Ganapati Hegde Thotimane (purusha vesha); Ishwar Nayak Manki (pundu vesha); Vidwan Maruti Prasad (music); Vidwan Chandrashekhar Navada (dance); Giridhar Kaje (medicine); and Krishnamurthy Manja (business).

Sugunendra Tirtha Swamiji of Puttige Math, president of the Dakshina Kannada District Kannada Sahitya Parishat Pradeep Kumar Kalkura, president of Yakshagana Kalaranga Tallur Shivaram Shetty and president of Yellapur Sankalp Seva Samsthe Pramod Hegdewere among those present.

Udupi: Vijakumar Hegde, president of the executive committee of the Nagarjuna Virodhi Horata Samiti, said on Friday that a meeting would be held on December 8 to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the coal-based thermal plant being set up at Yellur in Udupi district.

Mr. Hegde told presspersons here that the meeting would be held under the leadership of Visvesha Tirtha Swamiji of Pejawar Math.

So far, no proper information regarding the thermal plant (which is under construction) had been given either by the district in-charge Minister, the district administration or the Lanco company, which was setting up the plant.

The State Government seemed to have a double-standard for power projects. It gave up the thermal power plant at Chamalapura because of opposition from the public. It converted the thermal power plant at Tadari from a coal-based to a gas-based one because of people’s opposition. The people of Udupi district had been fighting for the last two decades against the setting up of a coal-based thermal plant. Yet the Government was going ahead with its decision to allow the setting up of a coal-based thermal plant at Yellur. “It appears that the opinion of the people of Udupi district does not count at all for the Government,” he said.

All social organisationshad been invited to participate in the meeting, Mr. Hegde said.

Udupi: Lecturer in the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology at Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty College, Shirva, T. Murgeshi and his team have found unique rock engravings at Buddhana Jeddu near Neralakatte in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district.

A press release issued by Mr. Murgeshi here on Thursday said that in the course of exploration at Buddhana Jeddu near Karkunje village for tracing Buddhist remains, he and his team noticed a few engravings at Bhimana Paare. Bhimana Paare, a grazing area of Buddhana Jeddu, is located in a reserve forest.

The engravings were partially exposed because of erosion of the overlaying deposit. The team conducted three expeditions in three different seasons in the last few months and found more than 10 engravings.

The engravings are of three animals (cattle), three human figures, an embryo, abstract geometrical designs, cup marks and footprints.

Mr. Murgeshi said he had informed professor at the Pondicherry University Rajan and retired professor and well-known historian of the State A. Sundara about the engravings.

Dr. Rajan had identified them as petroglyphs after seeing the first set of pictures.

Dr. Sundara found them to be “important” and “comparatively significant”, the release said.

The geometrical design comprising spirals of a particular pattern was the most attention grabbing and, perhaps, unique.

It was comparable to a similar design of the Mesolithic period from Russia, he added.

Mr. Murgeshi said the Buddhana Jeddu rock art site was the first of its kind in Karnataka where engravings were found on surface-level stone. He termed the discovery of the site “very significant and unique”.

Mr. Murgeshi’s team included lecturer in history at Milagres College, Kallianpur, Prashanth Shetty; research scholar at Rashtrakavi Govinda Pai Samshodhana Kendra, Udupi, Jayarama Shettigar; field explorer of Kamala Bai High School, Udupi, Sridhar Bhat; and artists of Kalamandir College of Art, Udupi, Raghavendra Amin and Naveen.

The team was supported by a local resident Nagesh Poojary, Karkunje Gram Panchayat member Manjunath Poojary and forest guard of the area Shekar Poojary, the release added.

Udupi, December 2: Doing our duty sincerely is worship of god said Pejavar Mutt Seer Shri Vishweshathirta Swamiji.

In a function held on his 71st coronation day celebrated at Vidhyodhaya Public School premises on December 1, 14 achievers were felicitated. Sincerity in duty is important whether he is a farmer or politician.

This year medical aid was provided to 260 patients costing Rs.3.7 lakhs in total, in the function Rs. 25,000 was distributed for 16 persons.