Panjim, March 4: The stage is set for the four-day Carnival fiesta in the State even as a controversy has struck the festivities which will now be held with a pruned budget.
Committees constituted across the five main cities in the State to host Carnival parades will now have to work with a lesser budget after the Tourism Department announced financial support of a meager Rs 4 lakh for the committees as against last year’s share of Rs 35 lakh.
The sudden drop in the budget had upset the Carnival committees, who were left to fend for themselves as Tourism Minister Nilkant Halarnkar and Director Swapnil Naik left for the US to participate in the travel mart. They are yet to return from their foreign trip.
To add to this, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) which was the main host for the festivities all these years, has pulled out of the event.
“King Momo’s float heralding the parade will be put up by the Tourism Department”, GTDC Chairman Shyam Satardekar said.
Satardekar said that the Tourism Department had decided to drop GTDC from the organising list and host the festivities on their own.
“We were not considered by the Department right from the beginning”, he claimed.
Tourism Department officials insisted that the Carnival committees should scout for commercial sponsors for the event.
Panjim Carnival Committee Chairman Joaquim Teles said it was only after Chief Minister Digambar Kamat’s intervention that the budget was hiked to Rs 30 lakh for Panjim and Rs 15 lakh each for the other four cities.
Teles said Rs 50,000 will be awarded for the float that wins the parade competition. “There was little uncertainty initially but now everything is on track. We are ready to celebrate Carnival in a grand way”, he said.
Another hiccup was CCP Mayor Caroline Po who was heading the Panjim committee had to step down considering the impending civic polls.
Teles said that around 90 floats will be participating in the parade, which has banned commercial floats advertising products. “There is no theme for the floats but basically, it’s a colourful parade showing different kind of dances and full of creativity”, he added.
Goa attracts around 30,000 tourists, basically domestic crowd for the float parades.
