)
To a give a shot in the arm to tourism, a weekend cultural programme was launched today in Mysore.
The recently-concluded Dasara celebrations witnessed a number of cultural events across centres. The palace was the chief attraction with its illumination, evening music and dance programmes and other attractions.
To give a fillip to this and to draw in more tourists, the state initiated the weekend cultural programmes in front of the Anjaneyaswamy Temple, at the northern entrance to the temple, an outcome of the interest evinced by Tourism Minister R V Deshpande and district incharge minister V Sreenivasa Prasad who launched the first event this evening.
Once the Dasara concludes, no other attraction is offered to tourists at the palace, except for a visit to see to see the royal grandeur or the palace illumination on Sundays and public holidays.
Tourists miss the cultural heritage of Mysore as no programmes are held for them by the administration unless they chose to look out for a programme by private firms.
They no longer need to wait for such events. They can now witness cultural events while they visit the palace to see its splendour when it’s lit up with nearly 100,000 bulbs.
The launch of the year-long weekend cultural programme, a colourful mix of folk dances and light music, is in keeping with the promise of the tourism minister at the time of Dasara that year-long cultural events would be organised in the tourist city to attract more visitors.
After the maiden programme at the palace premises, subsequent events are proposed to be shifted to the Dasara Exhibition grounds in Doddakere Maidan and other tourist places, including the palace.
