MAPUSA
The festival of lights will be a sweet-sour affair for enthusiasts in Bardez this year.
While the Parra-based Shardha Utsav Samiti has thrown open the "Akash Kandil" (star) contest for entire Bardez enlarging the scope of the competition, the district administration has put a spoke in the celebrations by denying permission to hold "narkasur" contest in Mapusa on the eve of Diwali.
With the backing of the local MLA and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo, Shardha Utsav Samiti decided to open the Akash Kandil contest to a larger audience extending it to all seven constituencies of Bardez.
The Samiti was running the contest for the last three years, but it was confined to only Calangute constituency.
"People are moving away from the traditional way of celebrating the festival by buying readymade Akash Kandils. We want to encourage the youth to keep the tradition alive and make them follow out real culture," said Pradeep Moraskar, one of the organizers of the event.
He said the Samiti also holds "star-making" contest during the Christmas and will hold a similar initiative this year. Last year, there were 273 entries for the Akash Kandil contest. The Samiti expects at least 1000 entries this year.
First three winners in each of the constituency will take away cash prizes of ` 10,000, ` 8,000 and ` 6,000 while every entrant will get ` 500 as consolation prize.
The organizers said that they could expand the contest due to the support and backing of Calangute MLA Michael Lobo.
In the meanwhile, the deputy collector has rejected permission to hold "narkasur" contest in Mapusa for the fear of law and order problem.
Sources informed that the deputy collector had received two applications to hold the contest on the same day and at the same spot.
Shiv Sena and Swaraj Gomantak Sangathan had applied for holding narkasur contest at the taxi-stand, Mapusa.
Sources informed that Swaraj Gomantak Sangathan is a breakaway group of Shiv Sena and therefore authorities suspected that if one of the groups was given permission the other group could create law and order problem at the event.
"I have received inputs from the police that there could be law and order problem and therefore rejected permission of holding narkasur contest to both the groups," said Bardez Deputy Collector Gaurish Sankhwalkar.
It may be recalled, Mapusa Navyuvak Mandal was holding Narkasur contest in Mapusa for several years. But since 2014, no Narkasur contests have been held in the city.
