Copius rains ensure Dasara with pomp and show in Mysore this year

With Siddaramaiah who hails from Mysore taluk at the helm of affairs of the state, the 2013 Dasara has assumed a special significance and authorities here are charting out plans and programmes to make the nine-day-long celebrations excel in grandeur over the previous ones.

After the high-power committee setting guidelines for this year's celebrations under the chief minister's chairmanship on August 10, deputy commissioner C Shikha, who is the Dasara Special Officer, has initiated preparations on a brisk note and constituted 20 sub-committees to organise various events, giving them directions on organising events in a meaningful manner.

The sub-committees are headed by nine senior officials of the district as Dasara Deputy Special Officers, each responsible for 2-3 sub-committees. Each sub-committee has a working president and a secretary. She has directed them to organise programmes online the previous years taking care to avoid lapses if any and in the meanwhile, restrict the budget within allocation made to them. The sub-committees have begun functioning. Letters have been addressed to cultural zones, inviting top artistes of national repute to perform in front of the palace, the centre of attraction.

Sale of Dasara gold cards will continue this year too and foreign visitors will be offered special facilities for withnessing the celebrations. Creation of a 'Mega Stall' to accommodate 101 handicraft shops from across the country, a 'Food Street' to offer quality eatables, and information kiosks to guide tourists will be the special features of the Dasara Exhibition.

The Dasara website will be upgraded with new features. To be launched in German and French as well to draw tourists from abroad, the multi-lingual website will have 3D images of Mysore's major locations and live streaming of all important events during Dasara for which an allocation of Rs 10 crore has been made.

Fourteen elephants, including the 57-year-old Arjuna, who is again assigned the job of carrying the 750 kg golden howdah on the procession day of Vijaya Dasami on October 14, will arrive in Mysore by the month-end. The first batch will leave the Nagarahole forest on August 28 and will be welcomed at the palace on August 30, where they will be stationed.

While stressing on avoiding wasteful expenditure while making the Dasara grand, the DC has suggested focussed publicity and in-house publicity to target groups and priority for cleanliness. She has instructed officers not to take up works which cannot be completed by Dasara and tackle only the urgent works. There will be a centralised tender system this year too. Invitations will be common and printing of separate invitations from each committee will be avoided, the DC has said.

Meanwhile, the efforts of the Chamundeswari Electricity Supply Company (CESC) to rope in sponsors for illuminating prominent circles and roads has received a good response with some businesses coming forward to take up special lighting as in previous years.