BELLARY: Hampi Utsav, the three-day mega cultural festival of dance, drama and music, will begin in Hampi on Thursday. Around three lakh people are expected to witness the cultural extravaganza this year.

Governor T.N. Chaturvedi will inaugurate the cultural festivities at the main stage (opposite Virupaksha temple) at 5 p.m. and Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh will release a book "Pravasigaru Kanda Vijayanagar," a translation of the views of travellers on the Vijayanagar Empire. Hospet MLA H.R. Gaviyappa will preside over the function.

Union Minister for Information and Tourism Jaipal Reddy; the man behind the cultural festivities, M.P. Prakash; Minister for Sports and Culture, Government of Andhra Pradesh, M. Satyanarayan; Minister for Information B. Shivaram; MPs K. Virupakshappa and G. Karunakar Reddy are among the dignitaries to participate in the function.

Apart from a variety of cultural activities by artistes of national and international fame, adventure sports are being organised for the first time as an added attraction to this year's Hampi Utsav.

Rock climbing, trekking, water sports are some of the events that will be organised during the three days. The events are open to the public.

Rock climbing will be held near Sisters' Stones (on the way to Queen's Bath) and water sports will be held at the Kamalapur Tank, Deputy Commissioner Arvind Srivastav told The Hindu .

In order to regulate the movement of vehicular traffic, entry to Hampi has been restricted from Kaddirampur and the exit has been routed through Kamalapur. Parking spots have been identified for two wheelers and four wheelers and a makeshift bus stand will be near the facilitation centre near Gayatri peetha, according to Superintendent of Police Pankaj Kumar Thakur.

Site seeing

The Department of Tourism has agreed to arrange daylong site seeing trips to Badami, Pattadkal and Aihole, which are also World Heritage Sites. However, the tours will be conducted on demand. In addition, Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation has linked its regular tours of Hampi and Mantralaya with the Hampi Utsav providing an opportunity to tourists to enjoy the cultural activities.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail