Vibrant Gujarat Navratri Mahotsav, 2007

Corporates asked to host Navratri fest
Why is the government withdrawing its hand? With state Assembly elections scheduled for this year-end, govt fears model code of conduct may be in force during Navratri; representatives of top industrial houses have met senior government officials and offered to hold nine-night festival, provided they get logistical support

Gandhinagar, August 28: The state government has reportedly decided not to organise the Vibrant Gujarat Navratri Mahotsav – 2007, and instead ask some top corporate houses to organise the festival spanning nine nights beginning in the second week of October. The event will be organised at the sprawling helipad grounds in Gandhinagar.
A group of representatives of leading industrial houses like Adani, Reliance, Essar, Nirma, Torrent, Cadila and Welspun have already had a meeting with senior officials of the State Industries and Tourism department, where they offered to organise the nine-night festival of garba and traditional dances. They also urged the government to provide the necessary logistics to the corporate houses for organising the event.


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A senior official told The Indian Express on Tuesday that one of the main reasons why the government wanted to back out from the Navratri festival this time was that with the state Assembly polls scheduled for this year end, it did not want to court any controversy with regard to the model code of conduct, which could come into force by that time. Besides, the government could avoid additional burden on the state expenditure on such a huge event this year by inviting leading corporate houses to organise it.
“If a major festival like Kutch Mahotsav could be organised every year by involving some top industrial and business houses, there is nothing wrong in approaching some top corporate honchos and asking them to organise the Gujarat Vibrant Navratri Mahotsav this year,” said the official said, adding that “the government will only play the role of facilitator for the industrial houses.” The officials have asked the industrial houses to submit a formal proposal to the government for organising the Navratri festival.
For the last two years, the government had been organising the Vibrant Gujarat Navratri Mahotsav on the helipad grounds in Gandhinagar. In 2005, the festival was to be organised along the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad. But, the government was forced to change its venue to Gandhinagar after the opposition Congress argued that the event could not be held as the code of conduct was in force in view of local body elections then. Gandhinagar being the notified area, the government had then faced no problem in organising the Navratri event there.
The Modi Government had spent a whopping sum of Rs 16.35 crore on the much-hyped Vibrant Gujarat Navratri Mahotsav organised on the Gandhinagar helipad grounds in 2005 and 2006, and paid over Rs 4.87 crore to the Allahabad-based private agency – M/s Laluji and Sons — just for the ground arrangements, design and event management in both the years. Though the government had organised the Navratri festival to attract foreigners and NRIs to market Gujarat, the fete had only 27 foreigner tourists in 2005 and another 9 in 2006. The government had incurred expenditure on their airfare, accommodation, food and transportation during the event in both the years. And to publicise the event, the government had spent over Rs 2.69 crore on media and publicity alone.