Cauvery impact: Mysuru Dasara to go 'austere'

The Cauvery controversy appears to have affected the 406th edition of Mysuru Dasara, with the festival’s executive committee deciding to celebrate this year’s ‘Nada Habba’ in a rather austere manner.

Addressing reporters here on Sunday, Mysuru Deputy Commissioner D Randeep said that owing to the Cauvery issue and deficit rainfall in the region, the committee had decided to cut down the expenses to Rs 11 crore from Rs 14.25 crore. “This time, we are planning to celebrate Dasara with a social message.

The events will not be cancelled but held with slight modifications,” he added. He said that the government had released Rs 6.80 crore for the preparations, and the Dasara committee had saved Rs 1.5 crore during the previous festivals. Randeep said that cultural events at the Mysuru Palace and five other places in the city would be held as in the past, but the ‘Food Mela’ would be organised at just one place. While the ‘Yuva Dasara’ sub-committee has planned to organise programmes at Rs 1.5 crore, the cultural sub-committee would make do with Rs 1 crore.

The popular ‘Yuva Dasara’ and other cultural events will be held as per schedule. All the events will be based on social themes like water conservation, he said. For the first time, the district administration and the festival committee have roped in private players to sponsor cultural events and to bear the travel expenses of star artistes who will perform during the Dasara, Randeep said.

Alternative routes

With protests continuing unabated on the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway, alternative routes to reach Mysuru from Bengaluru will be uploaded on the official website of the festival. The authorities have also approached private airlines to start a flight between Bengaluru and Mysuru.