Grant Rs 500 Cr for Mahamastakabhisheka Festival: Gowda to PM

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda today requested incumbent Narendra Modi to ensure grant of Rs 500 crore for Mahamastakabhisheka Festival in Karnataka, which the Finance Ministry has denied.
Gowda said the Finance Ministry had in a letter denied the grant for the festival.
"We are planning to meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also," he said.
"The state will also have its share, but the Centre should also contribute for a festival that happens once in 12 years which attracts a large number of people globally," he said.
Held once in every 12 years, the head anointing ceremony of the 57-foot statue of Gomateshwara Bahubali at Shravanabelagola in Karnataka is scheduled to be held on February 18 next year.

This was Gowda's second meeting with the Prime Minister in less than a month.

Gowda also urged Modi for the release of grants for various activities surrounding the festival.
"We have sought funds for construction of connecting roads in Hassan district in the backdrop of festival. Besides we have also told the Prime Minister to look into acute water scarcity the district is facing. We would also meet the ministers concerned for the purpose," said Gowda, who represents Hassan in the Lok Sabha.
In his meeting with Modi early this month, Gowda, the Janata Dal (Secular) party supremo, put forth his demand for funds for the festival apart from seeking better support price for coconut farmers.

On the water scarcity issue in Hassan, he said he would go on an indefinite hunger strike in his district on Saturday demanding release of drinking water for 10 wards of drought-hit Hassan city.
Last year, pontiff of the Jain Mutt Charukeerti Bhattaraka Swamiji had said that in view of drought, Mahamastakabhisheka Festival will be conducted with "minimum expense" and not as a "mega event".