Paucity of funds hits ‘Kalidas Festival’

* Since 2011, the annual signature cultural event of Nagpur has not been held
* Collector says, he is ‘positive’ about organising the event this year and is in touch with MTDC bosses

By Kartik Lokhande
Signatures often fade away into history. The same thing is happening with Nagpur’s signature cultural event ‘Kalidas Festival’. Since February 2011, when it was last organised, the festival has found no place on the city’s events calendar. This year also, the festival faces similar fate as the administration is citing the reason of ‘paucity of funds’.
‘Kalidas Festival’ is organised by the district administration in collaboration with Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC). Every year, MTDC allocates a sum of Rs 5 lakh for organising the event. Over the years, as the expenditure involved increased, the district administration tried a hand with finding sponsors and the event was held on a larger scale in February 2011. However, since then, ‘Kalidas Festival’ has not been organised. Every time, the district administration quoted new likely dates but could not succeed in organising the event. Usually, the event is held at Ramtek and Nagpur. The festival brings to Nagpur the maestros in the field of music and dance. Then, what ails it?

Guardian Minister of Nagpur district Shivajirao Moghe inaugurating Kalidas Festival-2011, as EGS Minister Dr Nitin Raut, MLA Ashish Jaiswal, Divisional Commissioner B Venugopal Reddy, the then District Collector Pravin Darade look on. This was the last time Nagpur's signature cultural event was held. (File photo: Satish Raut)

“Inadequate allocation is the major hurdle,” said Saurabh Rao, District Collector. According to Rao, the festival was organised at a grand scale in February 2011 but it also faced problem due to paucity of funds. “We had to clear an outstanding amount of Rs 37 lakh. The allocation available is only Rs 5 lakh since long and it has not been revised upwardly keeping in tune with rising expenses. As a result, we had to move the Union Ministry of Cultural Affairs to receive special assistance of Rs 25 lakh. This helped us clear the outstanding amount,” he said.
“Kalidas Festival is the signature event of the city and hence it must be different from a host of cultural programmes organised in Nagpur. To maintain that uniqueness, one has to spend more in bringing artists of national and international repute. As far as organising the event this year is concerned, we are in talks with MTDC bosses. I am positive about the outcome,” Saurabh Rao told ‘The Hitavada’.
Asked about the issue, Hanuman Hede, Senior Regional Manager of MTDC also cited paucity of funds as a reason behind not being able to organise the event. “MTDC allocates Rs 5 lakh for the event,” he said.
MTDC is likely to reply to the district administration’s request regarding organising ‘Kalidas Festival’ by the end of January or first week of February, by January 15.
If that period also is missed, then it is less likely that the event will be held at all. One of the reasons is that national-level agricultural expo ‘Krishi Vasant’ is being held in the city between February 9 and 13. Then on, in February itself, second edition of ‘Advantage Vidarbha’ industrial summit is likely to be held. In March, model code of conduct for Lok Sabha election is tipped to be enforced. Once that comes into effect, there will be no scope for ‘Kalidas Festival’ in the melee of Lok Sabha election. If that happens, 2014 will go down as the third consecutive year without ‘Kalidas Festival’. In effect, the city’s signature event will fade away into history.

No separate allocation for ‘Kalidas Festival’ 

A shocking fact has come to fore that there is no separate allocation for ‘Kalidas Festival’. The amount of Rs 5 lakh allocated by MTDC is from the head of ‘cultural events’. It may be allocated for any other cultural event. This is very shocking considering the fact that ‘Kalidas Festival’ is the signature event of the city. Dr Jagdish Patil, Managing Director of MTDC, is learnt to have assured to move the Government to make independent allocation for the festival. The Government may think about making allocation under one head for ‘Ellora Festival’, ‘Elephanta Festival’, ‘Kalidas Festival’ and other festivals. 

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on January 8, 2014

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