While H1N1 scare is keeping tourists away, the Rs 6 crore state-sponsored Dasara celebrations are taking off here today. Works are hurriedly being completed at several places to dress up the old royal city for the 10-day celebrations. Unprecedented number of programmes is chalked out and programme rehearsals and publicity campaign are in full swing.
A visit to the Maharaja’s Palace this morning revealed hurried laying of tiles by contractors and several dug up roads for laying of pipes under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Reconstitution Mission project in the city being filled up with equal hurry, quality getting a backseat.
Art of Living fame Ravi Shankar will launch the celebrations from atop the Chamundi Hills by a special worship of Mysore’s deity Chamundeswari in presence of chief minister B S Yeddyurappa at auspicious 10-38 a.m. The chief guests are expected to take the maiden flight to the modernised Mandakalli airport.
This will follow a series of inaugurals like film festival, Dasara Exhibition, wrestling matches, tourism promotion programmes, food festival, Dasara special decorations, horticulture show and theatre festival, a couple of them introduced for the first time. The major event will be inauguration of the nine-day cultural programmes in front of the Palace, which will be illuminated by nearly a lakh of bulbs.
Apart from these, several other programmes like air show, poets’ meet, folk festival, heritage walk, cycle rally and race, contests for women and children, flower show, farmers’ Dasara, and Yuva Dasara for youth are slated for the season.
Artistes from Karnataka and other States, including some renowned, will participate in as many as 147 cultural programmes at six cultural centres in the city during the Dasara.
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Scion of royal family of Wodeyars Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wodeyar will have his rituals and Durbar in the Palace as in the previous years.
What will turn Mysore into a myriad city of lights will be its illumination, drawing one million units of additional power. Installing additional 1,63,000 bulbs, 3,250 metal allied lamps and 12 computer-simulated bulbs, several roads, parks and public buildings will be lit up at an expenditure of Rs 1.3 crore. Fourteen generators have been installed to ensure power flow on the procession route of Sayaji Rao Road, Banni Mantap, venue of torchlight parade and Chamundi Temple. The scale of illumination will exceed over last year.
The police have stepped up security arrangements by installing spy cameras at key places of attraction like the Palace and drawing additional forces from neighbouring districts.
Traffic restrictions have been imposed on major routes in the city. Efforts are on to streamline the Vijaya Dasami procession making badges compulsory for all participants.
Gold cards which permit tourists to witness the Dasara programmes from vantage points and visit tourist spots without payment of entrance fee are being sold at several points.
However, a trader complained the tourist flow is not even normal of the season and sales were down, the last few days’ rains dampening trading community spirits further.