Rafique Aziz
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The news that the Ellora-Ajanta Festival may or may not be conducted this year owing to technical reasons has hurt the sentiments of heritage and cultural enthusiasts, as well as citizens. Hence, they questioned who should be held responsible for it: the public representatives, the bureaucrats, or the tourism stakeholders. They claimed that the festival should be held at any cost without any gap.
To promote the event the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) grants Rs 50 lakh for the festival. It is conducted under the guidance of the committee comprising bureacracts from different government offices and other tourism stakeholders. It is headed by the district collector.
Deputy Director (Department of Tourism) Vijay Jadhav refused to comment saying, “ The festival committee is headed by the district collector and DoT is a stakeholder in it. DoT is a sponsorer, not the organiser of the festival. Hence we will act as per the directives released by the collector accordingly.”
Presentation next week!
According to tourism sources, “A few days ago, the collector informed the DoT to at least prepare a detailed plan (including the names of artists to be invited for performance) of the festival. Hence, the presentation to him will probably be made by next week. The festival will be of three days and the dates would be of the last week of February or the first week of March.”
Raising funds challenging task!
“ Raising funds for the festival is a challenging and daunting task. The DoT has granted Rs 50 lakh for the 2024 festival. The event is not a profitable venture, but at least Rs 5 crore is needed to conduct the festival (if star performers are invited). Meanwhile, the festival committee is worried about how to clear the pending bills of around Rs 2 crore from last year’s festival. This is the reason why the office-bearers of the festival committee are reluctant to organise the 2025 festival. The committee has to seek donations under CSR from the industries, companies and organisations. Not all donors respond positively. Some even hesitate to donate funds (in lakhs) citing excuses,” claimed the sources.
It is a tourism development initiative: ATDF
President of Aurangabad Tourism Development Foundation (ATDF) Jaswant Singh said, “ The festival has gained popularity across the borders. It is not a cultural event, but an initiative of tourism development. The tourists and visitors attend the festival to see what local art culture is preserved by the local artists and experts. They do not come to see the star performers. Hence the festival should be held in restricted financial budget without any gap.”
Open Grounds
The grounds of Marathwada Sanskrutik Mandal; Divisional Sports Complex; Garware Stadium; Hanuman Tekdi (near Aurangabad Caves), Ayodhyanagari (Railway Station Road), etc are suitable for conducting the festival, said the tourism experts.
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There should be no gap: Karad
Former minister of state (MoS) for finance MP, Dr Bhagwat Karad said, “ The festival is our pride. There should not be any gap in conducting it. The public representatives should unite for the city and its identity. As they are the ambassadors of the city. I will speak to the district collector, who is the president of the festival committee in this regard.”
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Pyramid of public representatives
There is one active MP Sandipan Bhumare, nine MLAs and three MLCs, apart from Rajya Sabha MP in the district. The city is also proud of the inclusion of two MLAs as cabinet ministers. However, it seems the public representatives are least bothered about the festival as their present focus and target is upon the forthcoming elections of local self-governing bodies (municipal corporation, municipal councils and zilla parishad). Above all, political differences, issues of credit and ego also are also refraining them from coming on one platform to promote the identity and pride of the city.”