Aurangabad: The three-days long Ellora-Ajanta Festival has been scheduled to be held from February 25 to 27. Meanwhile, the artists' selection committee has contacted prominent artists and performers like Bharatnatyam dancer Sandhya Purecha, flautist Pandit Rakesh Chaurasia, singer Mahesh Kale, Rahul Deshpande, Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan, Shujat Khan, drummer Sivamani and sitarist Ravi Chary.
The administration has constituted different committees to organise the ambitious event through people’s participation and sponsors. Meanwhile, the finalisation of these performers and artists will be made in about a week’s time.
The first-day event comprising cultural programmes will be held in the open lawns of Ellora on February 25, while the remaining two days’ function will be held in Sunehri Mahal. The first-day event at Ellora will be continued till 12 midnight.
An organising committee under the headship of the district collector Astik Kumar Pandey has been formed. The sub-committees have also been formed to select the artists, arrange lodging-boarding and transportation, finance committee, dais and sound committee, security committee, medical service committee, electricity committee and cleanliness committee.
Department of Tourism (DoT) funding doubtful
It may be noted that the state’s tourism minister has announced aid for conducting the festival. According to DoT, it was ready to aid Rs 1 crore if the festival would have organised in January. However, the date of February has been selected for the festival due to the G20 meeting in the city. Now, it is learnt that a sum of Rs 3-4 crore is expected to conduct the festival, but there is a bleak chance of getting adequate funds for it from the government. Hence the organising committee has decided to hold the festival through people’s participation and sponsors.