Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa chairs first preparatory meeting

Mysore/Mysuru: The first preparatory meeting of Dasara-2023 under the Chairmanship of District Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa was held at the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) Hall in city this morning to prepare road-map for Dasara celebrations.

The meeting deliberated on the preparations for Nada Habba in the wake of the Dasara High Power Committee led by Chief Minister Siddharamaiah deciding to celebrate the festivities in a grand but meaningful manner.

The highlight of the meeting was the Minister asking officials to plan innovative attractions instead of old and repetitive themes and public entertainment options. “Attractions cannot be monotonous. Use your imagination,” he told officers.

Underlining the importance of reducing unnecessary expenses and extravagance, Dr. Mahadevappa stressed that this year’s Dasara should stand apart from previous years while ensuring that the programmes remain within the sanctioned budget.

He voiced his disappointment with the repetition of certain Dasara events like many items in the Torchlight Parade and ‘Grameena Dasara’ in recent years and urged for novel ideas to enhance the appeal of the Torchlight Parade. He underscored the need to highlight the rich culture, traditions, and heritage of Dasara, tracing back to the era of the Vijayanagar empire, during which the grand Dasara celebrations originated and have continued for centuries.

No Grameena Dasara?

During the meeting, the District Minister proposed the cancellation of the ‘Grameena Dasara’ due to its repetitive and unappealing nature. However, Animal Husbandry Minister K. Venkatesh advocated for a reformed version of ‘Grameena Dasara’ and suggested discussing plans for its improvement. He expressed his intention to raise the matter with the Chief Minister, considering the importance of ‘Grameena Dasara’ for rural communities.

Dr. Mahadevappa highlighted that while only the Dasara procession route has been laid with concrete so far, the concrete works of other major roads within the city will commence after Dasara. He mentioned that he, along with other elected representatives and officials, will tour the city by bus to gather insights for organising events.

The District Minister reiterated that the ‘Gajapayana’ of Dasara elephants will start from Veeranahosahalli on Sept. 1, reaching Mysore Palace on Sept. 4, and urged officials to make necessary arrangements for their arrival. There will be a total of 16 Dasara Sub-Committees this time, with the possibility of adding three more if required for specific programmes, according to the District Minister.

‘Don’t bring elephants in truck’

MLC A.H. Vishwanath opposed the tradition of bringing elephants to Mysuru in trucks. He stated that bringing them in trucks is not a tradition and they must be made to walk from the forests to Mysuru. Earlier, the Maharajas of Mysore used to offer fruits and betel leaves to elephants and bring them in a procession from the elephant camps.

However, Mysuru Circle Chief Conservator of Forests Dr. Malathi Priya disagreed with this suggestion. She mentioned that according to the animal welfare guidelines, it is not feasible to make the elephants walk from the forests to Mysuru.

Gold Cards for NRIs

Several MLAs raised concerns about Gold Cards, which have caused confusion every year. They requested dedicated space for genuine Gold Card holders to ensure fair seat allocation, along with a resolution of Gold Card issues well in advance of Dasara.

Deputy Commissioner Dr. K.V. Rajendra mentioned that the Dasara Food Mela has been attracting larger crowds each year. All stalls in the Food Mela will be auctioned, aiming for a revenue of Rs. 2 crore. This year, a separate category of Gold Cards will be introduced for NRIs, he added.

Branding Mysuru

Dr. Mahadevappa unveiled a poster for the ‘Branding Mysuru’ contest organised by the Tourism Department. The contest has four categories: Designing attractive logo and tagline, mascot, souvenir and blog, with cash prizes (Rs. 20,000 for first prize, Rs. 10,000 for second prize and Rs. 5,000 for third prize).

Last date for registration is Aug. 31.  For details, e-mail: [email protected] or log on to https://karnatakatourism.org/whats-new/competitions

Animal Husbandry Minister K. Venkatesh, MP Pratap Simha, MLAs G.T. Devegowda, K. Harish Gowda, G.D. Harish Gowda, D. Ravishankar, Manjunath (Hanur MLA), Rameshbabu Bandisiddegowda, T.S. Srivatsa, Darshan Dhruvanarayan, MLCs Marithibbegowda, C.N. Manjegowda, Mayor Shivakumar, City Police Commissioner Ramesh Banoth, Mysuru District Nodal Secretary S. Selvakumar and other officials were present.