A slew of new features have been added to www.mysoredasara.gov.in, the official website of Mysore Dasara–2013, to provide a complete overview of this year’s festivities apart from information about Mysore city, tourism destinations and much more.
The website has been designed to serve as a “one-stop destination” for tourists planning to visit Mysore to witness the 10-day festivities starting on October 5.
The website promises to give complete coverage of Dasara (from Gajapayana to Torch Light Parade), with latest updates till the festivities conclude.
Minister in charge of Mysore district V. Sreenivas Prasad launched the website at the office of the Mysore Palace Board here on Friday. Regional Commissioner M.V. Jayanthi, Deputy Commissioner C. Shikha and Superintendent of Police Abhinav Khare were present.
Besides English and Kannada, the website, powered by Google Translate, can be accessed in some regional and foreign languages too.“An informative website helps draw the attention of visitors. As the website can be accessed in many international languages, we expect more foreign tourists for Dasara this time,” said Mr. Prasad, after launching the website.
The website has been developed by Dot Angle, a Mysore-based web development company, with support from the National Informatics Centre and the Mysore district administration.
The pictures of Gajapayana, held at Veerana Hosahalli, near Hunsur, recently, have been uploaded on the website.
Details of over 50 tourism places in and around Mysore are available on the website apart from information on food and accommodation facilities. The details of event venues, complete with a map and information on the nearest parking spaces and bus-stands, are available. Once the Dasara events get finalised, date-wise event listings will also be available.
The other features of the website include a forum for visitors to post queries and get answers, live chat/email support for Dasara-related queries, branding on Facebook and Twitter, interactive polls on Dasara–2013, countdown timer for all major events, special Dasara experience stories and Janata Savaari (videos of Dasara greetings and messages from the public).
Gold cards
Ms. Shikha, who is Dasara Special Officer, said 1,000 Dasara gold cards would be printed this year. The cost of Dasara gold cards would be announced shortly. Last year, each gold card was priced at Rs 6,000, she said.
