Karnataka   

Towards a more professional Mysore Dasara

MYSORE: In a bid to infuse professionalism in the conduct of Dasara in Mysore, the government has planned to bring in a few changes to move away from ad hoc preparation that prevails at present. There is a perception that civil works, including infrastructure development, should be delinked from Dasara and taken up so as to benefit the citizens throughout the year and not during the festive season alone.

Sharing some of her experiences in conducting Dasara, the Karnataka Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Shobha Karandlaje, who is in charge of Mysore district, told presspersons here on Monday that preparations and planning should pertain to cultural programmes alone and not infrastructure related work which should be an ongoing affair.

She said there would be a review meeting every month and this would pertain to infrastructure and all civic works for Dasara — except painting and a few maintenance works — would be completed before the onset of monsoon so as to benefit the public. There were complaints of substandard work all these years because of ad hoc approach but in future there would be no scope for ad hoc preparations and civil works would be finished by May, the Minister added.

Ms. Karandlaje said the officials would identify priority areas for Mysore’s infrastructure development and come out with a blueprint and an action plan to seek Rs. 100 crore sanctioned by the Chief Minister. Ms. Karandlaje said the authorities planned to finalise the participating artistes and cultural troupes months in advance to give them time to prepare. Meanwhile, the audit work of Rs. 10 crore released by the government for this year’s festivities, was under way and the details would be made public in a few days, said the Minister.

There was a question mark on the future of Dasara Gold Card which was introduced to generate funds and promote tourism as the government itself had taken up the responsibility of providing adequate funds for the festivities. As against 1,000 gold cards that were issued every year, the number came down to 500 this year.

Heaving a sigh of relief over the conduct of the festivities, the Minister described the recently-concluded Dasara as a grand affair and attributed this to the cooperation and coordination of the officials.

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