Rs. 4.22 crore for Mysuru Dasara, Rs. 50 lakh each for Mandya and Chamarajanagar, Rs. 20 lakh for Arkalgud Dasara

Mysore/Mysuru: Despite the Dasara festivities being scaled down and the procession limited to Mysore Palace in view of COVID-19, the Government has incurred an expenditure of Rs. 5.42 crore for the celebrations in Mysuru, Srirangapatna, Chamarajanagar and Arkalgud.

The State Government had released Rs. 6 crore for the entire celebrations. Releasing the details of the expenditure at Mysore Palace Board Office in city on Monday after getting it from the District Administration, Mysuru District Minister S.T. Somashekar said that the Government has spent Rs. 5,42,07,679 and the remaining Rs. 57 lakh is with the District Administration.

While Rs. 4.22 crore was spent on Mysuru Dasara, Rs. 50 lakh each has been spent on the Dasara celebrations in Mandya and Chamarajanagar and another Rs. 20 lakh was given to Arkalgud Dasara in Hassan district, he said.

This is the second successive year that the State Government is making public the details of the Dasara expenditure and last year, Rs. 2.05 crore was spent.

Somashekar said that this year, Rs. 5.91 lakh was spent on Dasara invitation card, Rs. 29 lakh on transport for dignitaries and artistes, Rs. 37.5 lakh for Jumboo Savari, Rs. 1.03 crore on cultural programmes and remuneration to the artistes, Rs. 18.85 lakh on tableaux, Rs. 50 lakh on maintenance of Dasara elephants and Rs. 93.8 lakh on stage and lighting.

Rs. 11.09 lakh was spent on web-casting Dasara programmes, Rs. 40 lakh was given as honorarium to the erstwhile Mysore royal family and Rs. 6.22 lakh for live telecast of Jumboo Savari on Doordarshan, besides Rs. 24,000 incurred on providing insurance cover to the elephants and their mahouts.

For stationery, Rs. 90,919 had been spent by the office of the Special Officer for Dasara and Rs. 3,245 by the Dasara Sub-Committee. Rs. 95,000 had been spent on photography and videography, Rs. 10.76 lakh had been spent on cleaning and another Rs. 10 lakh on Rangotsava, he added.

Mayor Sunanda Palanetra, MLA L. Nagendra, Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) Chairman H.V. Rajeev, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Dr. Bagadi Gautham, City Police Commissioner Dr. Chandragupta, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Geetha Prasanna and Superintendent of Police (SP) R. Chethan were present during the press meet.