The prevailing drought has cast its shadow on Dasara celebrations this year.
The state government has decided to keep the state festival a low-key affair, without any grandeur.
After chairing the high-level committee meeting to review preparations for Dasara at his home office ‘Krishna’, Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar told reporters that the government had decided to celebrate Dasara as a “simple and traditional state festival”.
“As many as 146 taluks are reeling under drought. Keeping this in mind, we have decided to keep this year’s Dasara celebrations a simple affair without compromising on the traditional aspects,” Shettar said.
It was also decided at the meeting to ask noted writer and Saraswati Samman awardee S L Bhyrappa to inaugurate this year’s Dasara. A final decision in this regard would be taken by the Chief Minister.
The nine-day festival would be held from October 16 to October 24. The District Dasara Committee has sought Rs 10 crore this year. However, the government has decided to release only Rs 6 crore initially.
Kannada and Culture Minister Govind Karjol said that tourism kiosks would be set up in Bangalore and Mysore to attract foreign tourists and those from across India.
Meanwhile, it has been decided not to send any delegation of elected representatives to the AKKA (Association of Kannada Kootas of America) convention in view of the drought, Karjol said. He also said that the grant for the AKKA celebrations has been restricted to Rs 20 lakh. The government had allocated Rs 45 lakh for the event last year.
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