Pic: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Dec 1: All preparations have been made to organize ‘Udupi Utsav’ at MGM College ground here from December 10 to January 30. The Utsav mainly comprises of two aspects, exhibition and cultural programmes.
At 3 pm on December 10, ‘platinum jubilee procession’ will be taken out from the municipal office to the venue of the Utsav. The Utsav will be inaugurated at 6 pm the same day by Kannada and culture minister, Govind Karjol, informed MLA, K Raghupati Bhat, and municipal president, Kiran Kumar, addressing a press conference here on Tuesday November 30.
They said that the cultural programmes will be inaugurated by former deputy Prime Minister of the country, L K Advani, at 7.30 pm on December 11. State Chief Minister, B S Yeddyurappa, will be present at the programme. At the same venue, international sportspersons of the region, Ashwini Shetty and Mamata Poojary, will be felicitated on behalf of the district administration and municipality, Raghupati Bhat said.
“The exhibition will be open from 3 to 10 pm every day. Cultural programmes, some of which are a classical music performance by Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Yakshana performances, a number of plays and cultural extravaganza by Ravindra Prabhu, will be held every day at 6 pm. On January 29 and 30, Beach Utsav will be organized at Malpe beach. 150 stalls will be opened at the Utsav, which is being organized in association with NCF Bangalore with the condition that 50% of gate collection should be given to the municipality,” Bhat informed. He also revealed that the Udupi Utsav, which was earlier scheduled to begin on December 8, was postponed in view of the visit of the President of India to Manipal on December 8. He said that depending on the success rate of the Utsav, the viability of making it an annual event will be considered.
Exhibition committee convener, Mahesh Thakur, cultural committee convener, Vasanti Sghetty, vice president, Bharati Chandrashekhar, municipal commissioner, Gokuldas Nayak and others were present.