Encouraging participation

Deputy Commissioner Dr. P.C. Jaffer inviting College students  to the Bidar Utsav.  After a gap of two years, the historical city of Bidar will celebrate Bidar Utsav. Apart from cultural performances by artistes of national and international repute, there will be also be programmes such as sports events and adventure sports, folk arts, photography exhibition, art camp, agriculture exhibition, competitions for children and a mushaira. “Bidar Utsav is not just a three-day event. It is a monthlong programme. We have already held the Career Utsav and Job Utsav,” . Dr. P.C. Jaffer, Deputy Commissioner, told presspersons here on Monday.

Thousands of students had benefited from the Career Utsav. At least 714 youth got offer letters and 350 others had been selected for training at the Job Utsav. This was an unprecedented achievement, he said.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will inaugurate the utsav here on February 1. Cultural troupes and folk artists will participate in the inaugural procession. N. Dharam Singh, MP, Umashree, Minister of State for Kannada and Culture, and R.V. Deshpande, Tourism Minister, will be among the dignitaries present.

The Bidar half-marathon will be held on the morning of February 1.

Singer Harshdeep Kaur and qawwali singers Sabri brothers will perform on the first day. Kannada film singer Guru Kiran and pop star Javed Ali will perform on the second day. Raghu Dikshit and Mika Singh will perform on the third day.

All cultural programmes will start in the evening.

The Kite Utsav will be held against the backdrop of the Chandni Chabutra on January 29 and 30.

Various competitions will be held for women as part of the Mahila Utsav at Jhira hall on January 29 and 30.

Mushaira

Poets of international fame will participate in the mushaira on February 2. Munawwar Rana of Kolkata, film lyricist Rahat Indori from Indore, Waseem Barelvi, Nida Fasli of Mumbai, Zutshi Gulzar Dehalvi, Iqbal Ashar of Delhi, Popular Meeruthi, Farhat Ehsas, Javed Musheeri, Suhail Lakhnavi, Heena Taimuri, Shabeena Adeeb of Kanpur, Habib Hashmi of Kolkata, and Sardar Ayagh of Bangalore will present poetry. Poets from Bidar, including Abdul Waheed Bahar, Syed Lateef Khaleesh and Abdul Mukhtadir Taj, will also participate.

A committee consisting of Abdul Quadeer, Devendra Kamal, Quaisar Rehman, Raufuddin Kacheriwale, S.R. Quadri and M. Yousuf Raheem Bidri and others would organise the mushaira, Sunil Panwar, Deputy Conservator of Forests and chairman of the mushaira committee, said.

Various sports events will be organised at the Bidar district stadium on January 28.

Swimming competitions will be held in the district swimming pool, football matches on the police grounds and hockey matches at the district stadium, all beginning at 10.30 a.m. Table tennis matches will be held in the indoor stadium at 4 p.m.

Dr. Jaffer said the Bidar City Municipal Council had introduced a scheme to provide advertising space for private companies and individuals if they used 60 per cent of space on their banners or posters to promote the Bidar Utsav.

A team of officials was visiting all colleges to invite students. Officials would also go to gram panchayats to extend traditional invitations to village residents, he said.

VIP cards that were issued to donors at the last Bidar Utsav would be valid this year. Old cards could be exchanged for new cards at a counter in the Assistant Commissioner’s office between January 28 and 31. The utsav was cancelled at the last minute in 2012.

Stall owners who had put up stalls last year would be allowed to put up stalls without paying money this year.

Expense

The utsav was expected to cost around Rs. 1 crore to Rs 1.2 crore. The government had promised to release Rs. 50 lakh that was not spent last year. The Department of Tourism had agreed to release Rs. 10 lakh.

Ms. Umashree had agreed to provide additional funds. The remaining amount would be raised through donations and sponsors, Dr. Jaffer said. Based on their donations, donors would be given Platinum, Diamond and Gold cards.

Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat, Mr. Panwar, Superintendent of Police C.H. Sudheer Kumar Reddy and members of various committees were present.

Kite Utsav will be held against backdrop of Chandni Chabutra on January 29 and 30. Various competitions will be held for women as part of the Mahila Utsav at Jhira Fucntion Hall.