Thiruvananthapuram: The state government is likely to scale down its official Onam week celebrations in view of the monsoon related flood and disasters. The plan was to do away with the pageantry and illumination in the pathway from Vellayambalam to Palay-am in Thiruvananthapur-am as part of the celebrations. Final decision on the issue is likely to be taken on Tuesday.
However, the government will go ahead with rituals organised as part of the Onam celebrations. The decision on whether to conduct the cultural events as part of the Onam celebrations is also likely to be taken at the cabinet.
However, one problem was that the tendering process for various cultural programmes has already been completed and dropping them may cause many issues.
The Cabinet last week had given its nod for this year’s Onam celebrations. As part of the week-long celebrations from August 24 to 30, Kowdiar to Manacaud in Thiruvana-nthapuram was declared a festival zone.
Opposition Leader Ram-esh Chennithala had de-manded the other day the postponement of government-sponsored Onam ce-lebrations in Thiruvanan-hapuram in the wake of the monsoon-related disaster in the state.
Chennithala demanded that the '30 crore fixed for Onam celebrations shou-ld be utilised for relief works. Onam week celebrations were tipped to be held in around 30 venues in Thiruvananthapuram.
