mangalore once again after five years four blue prints and two foundation stones later the rangamandira theatre for fine arts is in the news the theatre of fine arts will not come up in the deer park where two foundations were laid earlier but in another location the new site has not been finalized as yet and will be done when the rangamandira committee sits again in meeting probably in a month or two department of kannada and culture incharge assistant director r s dalawai told toi that there were a couple of locations but the bondel site where seven acre is available seems to be the perfect spot for the rangamandira he said the police station land near urva market was not considered as it was only three acres a final decision will be taken by the district administration when the committee meets soon said dalwaidramatist and writer na damodara shetty rangamandira committee member who has been in the committee since the past 25 years said the land opposite womens polytechnic in bondel is with the public works department its the perfect site as sufficient land is available and can support expansion in case academies need to be established there said shettyas far as the rangamandira is concerned the city has been unlucky its only one of the old districts not to have one in quarter of a century since the first committee was formed the project has been suffering from one malaise after another the first foundation stone for the project was laid at the kadri deer park in 2001 by the then district incharge minister ramanath rai on the same day next year rai unveiled the model of the theatre from then till date not an extra stone barring another foundation stone has decorated the place its being shifted due to objection from the horticulture departmenttill 2001 the project was in hibernation for want of land finally when land was cleared kadri foundation stone laid and model of the project was unveiled there were no funds barring a crore collected by the district administration through philanthropists and by donationsthe conceptualization of a rangamandira here started in the mid80s when the state government proposed to construct rangamandiras in the districts for the promotion of language folk art and culture during the world kannada convention at mysore the project which was estimated to cost rs 4 crore in 2001 has escalated to rs 9 crore if the allied projects are taken into account like buildings to house the offices of the kannada and culture department konkani and tulu academies the estimate is a whopping rs 1517 crore