Municipal councillors from ruling Congress and opposition BJP demanded that the annual Udupi Utsav, being held at the Royal Gardens on Udupi- Manipal Road, should be organized by the Udupi City Municipal Council, at the general body meeting of the Council here on Friday.
Raising the issue, Yashpal Suvarna, councillor, wanted to know what happened to the Rs. 16 lakh, which was promised, from the profits of the Udupi Utsav last year. The entry fee of the Udupi Utsav here was Rs. 50, while that of the Karavali Utsav in Mangaluru was Rs. 30. The cost of the goods sold at the Udupi Utsav fair too was high, he said.
Meenakshi Bannanje, CMC President, said the CMC had not given permission for the Udupi Utsav for the last two years. It was being held with permission from the district administration. “The CMC has no role to play in it at all,” she said.
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D. Manjunathaiah, CMC Commissioner, said the CMC had given up hosting or associating with the Udupi Utsav after the former Deputy Commissioner, R. Vishal, had pointed out that it could lead to objections during the auditing of the accounts. Besides, the Udupi Utsav was being held at the Royal Grounds, which belonged to a private party and not to the CMC. The permission was being given by the District Administration after getting No Objection Certificates from five departments. “During the Udupi Utsav held three years back, the profits of about Rs. 12 lakh made in it were used for providing facilities for the Burns Ward in the District Government Hospital. Since that was a good cause, we did not object to it,” he said.
The issues of high entry fee and others would be taken up with the National Consumer Fair, which was conducting the Udupi Utsav, Mr. Manjunathaiah said.
Mr. Suvarna said the Udupi Utsav and Beach Utsav were being conducted by the Udupi CMC three years ago.
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