Budget Dasara, thanks to babus: Minister V Srinivas Prasad

“Though the Dasara was simple, it was special and attractive this year. The officials have not crossed the scheduled budget of Rs 4 crore. With the cancellation of illumination for the entire city, we could save one lakh units of power,” he said.

Speaking to the media after holding a post Dasara review meeting with district level officers, Mr Prasad lauded the efforts of officers and said “As a Revenue Minister, in charge of disaster management, having understood the gravity of the drought situation and at the time when farmers had ended their life, we wanted to hold Dasara in a simple manner with a humanitarian ground in order to express solidarity with them. We cancelled Yuva Dasara, food mela and cut down the illumination in the entire city restricting it to Jumbo Savari procession route. Even laser show and fireworks were cancelled at torch light parade in Bannimantap. We restricted cultural programmes to Palace premises unlike previous years where in the cultural programmes used to be held in different parts of the City,” he said. When asked if they plan to drop non-official members in future Dasaras also, Mr Prasad replied in the negative.