Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said that the forthcoming Kumbh Mela at T Narsipura will be of a bigger scale than what is being held in Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh now.
He said that a team of officials will be sent to Uttar Pradesh to get details of the Kumbh Mela. They will assess the facilities, the arrangements and the expenditure incurred to hold the event. There will be no dearth of funds, but the event should be a grand success and better than what is held in North India, he said.
He was speaking while chairing the third meeting of officials and ministers for the Kumbh Mela, including those from Bengaluru, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamundeshwari and Chamarajanagar constituencies. The first two meetings were held in Mysuru and T Narasipura.
The state will host the 11th edition of the Kumbh Mela at the confluence of the Rivers Cauvery, Kapila and mythical river Spatika at T Narasipura from February 17 to 19. It is also popularly called as “Kumbh Mela of South India” and is held once in three years.
Kumaraswamy said a balance of Rs 2.5 core is available with the government from the last Kumbh Mela held in 2016. So far, an estimate of Rs 3 crore has been made, he added. He directed the officials to create a blue print and come with a detailed report about what needs to be done and how much funds are required for the Kumbh Mela in the next three days.
The chief minister asserted that all arrangements made should be permanent as the government is spending crores of rupees on the event.
He said that the biggest responsibility is on the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited to ensure its success. Higher Education and Mysuru District In-charge Minister G T Deve Gowda, Tourism Minister Sa Ra Mahesh, Varuna MLA Yathindra Siddarmaiah, Transport Minister D C Thammanna, Minor Irrigation Minister C Puttaraju took part in the meeting.