Kasaragod: More than five shops in Perla town, including a cloth store and an automobile showroom, were gutted in a major fire accident that occurred at around midnight on Saturday.

Five fire tenders were called from Uppala town of Kasaragod district and the fire brigade successfully doused the flames after more than three hours of continuous efforts. The locals were seen helping the fire brigade in preventing further damage in Perla.

The fire is suspected to have broken out due to a short circuit in the power line in the area.

‘Pooja Fancy’, ‘Gopinath Pai Cloth Centre’, ‘Praveen Automobiles’, ‘Saadath Store’, ‘Gautham Cold House’ and a journal distribution shop are among the shops destroyed in the fire.

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Mandya: Curtains came down the 87th All India Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in the city on Saturday night, with the Kannada Sahitya Parishad declaring that the next Kannada literature festival will be organized in Ballari district in 2025.

In a meeting held at a private hospital here on Sunday night, representatives of the Kannada Sahitya Parishads of all districts of the state came to a unanimous decision that Ballari would be the venue for the 88th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana, giving the border district the privilege of hosting a Kannada literature festival after 66 years.

Some of the representatives suggested Chikkamagaluru and New Delhi too while the matter of venue for the next Sammelana was raised, but the members finalized on Ballari as the district that would host the next literature festival.

The Kannada Sahitya Sammelana was organized in Ballari in the pre-Independence era in the years 1926 and 1938. After Independence, the festival was organized at the Municipal College grounds in the city and presided over by Jnanpith Award-winning Kannada writer VK Gokak.

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