Will this year at least, the people of the district get the opportunity to witness the Navaraspur Utsav?
This question remains unanswered as no clear information is available in the public domain from the authorities or the elected representatives.
It may be noted that owing to various reasons, primarily natural calamities, the cultural extravaganza has not been held in the Vijayapura for the last four years.
The cultural feast not only provides the people to enjoy art but also provides a platform to various artists to exhibit their talents.
In 2011 and 2012, the event was cancelled because of drought, which forced the authorities to cancel the event. IN 2013, the district hosted the annual Kannada Sahitya Sammelan, due to which the Navaraspur Utsav could not be organised. Last year, Lok Sabha polls and hailstones, that destroyed huge standing crop in the district, acted as hurdle to the event.
“What is surprising is that when no sort of natural calamity affects the holding of cultural events in other districts such as Hampi Utsav in Ballari, Chalukya Utsav in Bagalkot, Kittur Utsav in Belagavi and Dasara Utsav in Mysuru, how come only Vijayapura district cancels the cultural event”, said Rafi Bhandari, former Syndicate member of Karnataka State Women’s University.
He believes that since this year, as of now, the district is neither facing any natural calamity nor has any other important event, thus, the District Administration would host the event this year without fail.
Amid this, when the demand for the event grew louder, the District In-charge Minister, M.B. Patil directed the District Administration to start preparing for the event.
C.S. Nadagouda, the Karnataka’s special representative to Delhi has also said that the programme should be made as Calendar Event so that it should be held annually without fail.
Meanwhile, giving assurance that the event would be held this year, Deputy Commissioner, D. Randeep has said that the Kannada and Culture Department has around Rs. 60 lakh reserved for the Utsav. “Since we have no death of funds, the meeting would be convened of elected representatives to finalise the dates”, he said.
