Sahitya Sammelana guests to be treated with diverse culinary delights

Minister in charge of Mandya district N. Cheluvarayaswamy inaugurating the Mane Mane Kannada Bavuta in view of 87th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana, in Mandya on Friday. Ravikumar, Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda, MLAs, Sahitya Parishat president Mahesh Joshi, and others were present.
| Photo Credit: M.A. Sriram

The participants of the 87th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Mandya will get an opportunity to taste the cuisine of South Karnataka and North Karnataka as elaborate arrangements are made for cooking and serving food. Food will be served in 300 counters in order to avoid rush and separate enclosures will be put up for serving food.

Elaborate arrangements for serving food to the participants of the sammelana, which begins on December 20 on the outskirts of Mandya near Sanjo Hospital, are being made for the dignitaries, delegates, participants, volunteers, media, police personnel, and others. As many as three lakh people are expected to participate in the sammelana and the food arrangements including breakfast, lunch, and dinner are being made.

Food will be served at three different places in and around the main venue of the sammelana with over 300 counters put up for serving the food.

The participants will get breakfast, lunch, evening snacks, and dinner on all three days. As many as 350 cooks have been roped in to cook food and they will have over 900 assistants in addition to the cleaning and other staff. Utmost care will be taken for preparing food and keeping the dining and kitchen areas clean and hygienic, said MLA and Sammelana Food Committee president Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda.

Each counter will have an SDA grade staff, a ‘C’ group staff for five counters each – 60 PDOs for all 300 counters- 50 counters each will have one assistant director of mid-day meals, and every 100 counters will have the district level officer for monitoring. Each counter will have a volunteer and over 400 volunteers will be there in the kitchen area. Three food committees have been constituted and they will supervise the activities.

Ragi mudde and soppina saru, molake kalu sambar, ragi dose, and tatte idli are among the foods that will be served. Jolada rotti, badanekai palya, chatni pudi, and curd will also be served besides sweets like holige, kai mithai, badusha, dry jamoon, Mysuru pak, sweet pongal, and laddu, a note said.

Every participant, including the dignitaries, and delegates will get the same kind of food. To ease rush, separate counters will be set up for serving food.

Food safety will be ensured, with officers checking the quality of food served to the people. Also, steps will be taken to ensure the place is plastic-free. No bottled water will be used and 20 litre water containers will be kept in each counter along with paper cups for keeping the venue plastic-free, the note said.

Besides arranging food, it is also challenging to ensure the place is clean and hygienic, clearing the solid waste generated from the kitchen. The local bodies’ help is being taken with a large number of cleaning personnel from the municipalities deployed for disposing the solid waste.

Kannada flag campaign

Meanwhile, Minister in-charge of Mandya district N. Cheluvarayaswamy on Friday launched “Mane Mane Kannada Bavuta” campaign, urging the people in Mandya to hoist Kannada flags on their homes and buildings in view of the three-day Kannada Sahitya Sammelana from December 20.