The authorities have spent ₹29.25 crore for the Dasara Festival 2023 which was higher than the expenditure incurred during 2022 edition of the festival.
Releasing the details of the expenses incurred by the Dasara Executive Committee, Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra said that the amount spent last year was ₹28.74 crore against which ₹29.25 crore has been spent this year.
When questioned whether the cost escalation and expenditure could be justified in a year of drought, Mr. Rajendra said one has to factor, in general, an increase in prices, and as the amount spent was marginally higher than last year, it can be surmised that there was no wasteful expenditure and the amount spent for Dasara was within limits.
The Deputy Commissioner said ₹2.25 crore was raised by way of sponsorship while ₹1.19 crore of revenue accrued due to the sale of gold cards and tickets. The amount raised from sponsors in 2022 was only ₹32.50 lakh and ₹76.38 lakh was raised by way of ticket sales in 2022. ‘’We could have raised an additional amount from sponsors but did not do so as it entailed providing exclusive rights to the sponsored,’’ said Mr. Rajendra.
However, the expenditure of ₹28.74 crore does not factor in the amount spent on illuminating the city which alone has cost upward of ₹6 crore. Mr. Rajendra said it was undertaken by the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) and the Dasara Executive Committee did not release funds for it from the government grant. Similarly, Aahara Mela and Dasara Sports were also not funded by the State Grant. However, ₹50 lakh was paid to the Wadiyar family as royalty which included ₹47.5 lakh as honorarium and ₹2.5 lakh as GST.
The government had released ₹15 crore as a grant for this year’s festival while ₹10 crore was released by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority and ₹5 crore by the palace board. Mr. Rajendra said that in the run-up to the festival, before the drought was declared and rains played havoc, the estimates were pegged at around ₹40 crore to ₹45 crores. But given the drought, it was decided to scale down the expenditure without diluting the essence of the festival, said Mr. Rajendra. pointing out that the Dasara’s grandeur was also not compromised.
