4-day carnival to kick-off today

Panjim, March 4: Notwithstanding the controversy surrounding the annual festival of Carnival, the 4-day extravaganza is all set to kick-off in the capital city of Panjim on Saturday.
Chief Secretary Sanjay Shrivastava, secretary tourism D C Sahu in the presence of other officials will flag off the parade at Patto Bridge.  
Carnival, a tradition that Goa has inherited from Portuguese rule, involves public celebration in form of long continuous parades of colourful floats, led by King Momo or king of the carnival.
The King Momo’s float, which is made by State Tourism Department, will herald the parade. Similarly, a Queen Momo float has been introduced from this year.
The Panjim Carnival Committee has selected noted Konkani stage artist Ceazar D’Mello as King Momo while Flavia Fernandes has been nominated as this year’s Queen Momo. 
The committee has already received 90 forms for float parades participation while spot entries will also be accepted. The prize money has been increased from last year’s Rs 3.48 lakh to Rs 3.75 lakh.
According to information & publicity department’s press release, due to demand, sponsored category will be there this year with three cash prizes and they will be given Certificate of participation.
Besides that there will be other five categories namely, traditional, Club/Institution, family funk junk Car & Clown/Jokers. The prize money for 1st Prize of the Traditional category has been increased to Rs 50,000. 
Even before carnival float parades could hit the streets, controversy struck the festivity as it will be held with a pruned budget as the main host – Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), has pulled out of the event.
GTDC was hosting all the parades and deciding on the King Momo’s float. But the responsibility has been borne by the tourism department this year.
The Tourism Department had announced a financial support of Rs four lakh each for the five carnival committees as against the last year’s budget of Rs 35 lakh for Panaji alone.
The drop in the budget apparently upset the committees and Chief Minister Digambar Kamat had to intervene and hike the budget. Besides Panjim, the float parades will be held at Margao, Vasco, Ponda and at Mapusa on March 8.