• Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to chair the meeting; To discuss celebrations with local elected representatives, officers 
• Meeting to decide on holding spectacular Torchlight Parade 

Mysore/Mysuru: The Dasara High Power Committee meeting will be held in Mysuru next week instead of the usual Bengaluru location. Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa will chair the meeting and a communiqué in this regard has been released from the Chief Minister’s Office. The date of the meeting will be communicated later based on the CM’s schedule. 

As per the communiqué from the CM’s Office, it will be a simple but traditional Dasara without giving the age-old traditions a miss even due to COVID-19. Modalities of the celebrations will be decided at the meeting. 

Usually, the district-level Dasara Committee meeting would be held in Mysuru first and a proposal would be sent to the Dasara High Power Committee which meets every year in Bengaluru. The proposals sent by the District Committee is approved or modified in Bengaluru meeting. 

This year, however, the Mysuru District Administration has already conveyed to the Government that the District Dasara Committee has not met so far due to the pandemic and the district authorities were awaiting clear-cut directions from the Government on the conduct of the festival that is just a month away.  

The CM’s Office has communicated that Yediyurappa’s meeting will be held with local elected representatives and officers of Mysuru including MLAs, and MP, Deputy Commissioner, City Police Commissioner, Superintendent of Police, Mysuru City Corporation Commissioner, Mysuru Urban Developmental Authority  Chairman and Commissioner and other departmental officers who have innate knowledge of celebrating Dasara, albeit in a low key manner. 

Even the budget for the 10-day festival will be decided at the meeting along with other civic works that will have to be undertaken for the event. There are talks doing the rounds that the Government wants to avoid crowds in view of the pandemic and as such the Vijayadashami procession might be confined to Mysore Palace itself instead of a procession till Torchlight Parade Grounds. The meeting will also take a call on the conduct of Torchlight Parade. 

The High Power Committee meeting will be attended by Mysuru and Chamarajanagar District Ministers S.T. Somashekar and S. Suresh Kumar, Kannada and Culture and Tourism Minister C.T. Ravi and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Communication has already been sent to all the elected representatives and officers to be a part of the meeting. The name of the guest who will inaugurate Dasara will also be finalised at the meeting. 

This year, Navaratri begins on Oct. 17 and Vijayadashami falls on Oct. 26. According to astrologers, usually, the Ashwija month should start after Mahalaya Amavasya (Sept. 17). But in view of calendar correction, an Adhika (additional) Ashwija Masa (month) is added, up to Oct. 16. This correction is done once in three years. This time, it is the turn of Ashwija Masa.