Visakha Utsav postponed to Feb 3

VISAKHAPATNAM: The annual Visakha Utsav has been rescheduled from February 3 to 5, said HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao. Earlier, the festival was scheduled to be held from January 28 to 30.
Speaking to media persons here on Saturday, the minister said the district administration is focusing on the CII’s Partnership Summit to be held on January 27 and 28 and therefore decided to put off the utsav by 5 days.He said this year, around 2,000 industrialists from the country and 50 countries are expected to participate at the CII summit. Ministers from 15 countries will also participate in it. Around Rs 8 crore worth of memoranda of understanding (MoU) would be signed during the Partnership Summit this year as against the previous summit’s Rs 4.67 crore, he said, adding that the focus would be on aerospace, textile and biotech sectors. He said AP has become the best state in achieving ease of doing business.
Ganta Srinivas Rao also held a review meeting with collector Praveen Kumar, city police commissioner T Yoganand, Vuda VC T Baburao Naidu and GVMC commissioner M Hari Narayanan. The minister also released a poster of Navyandhra Pustaka Sambaralu to be held from January 27 to February 5 at AU Engineering College Grounds.
For the Visakha Utsav, an array of entertainment and cultural programmes have been planned around RK Beach and its vicinity. As per the official website, various traditional folk and tribal art, dance and music, classical dance, food pagodas, food courts, barbeque pit and cooking contest, bamboo installations, flower shows, amusement rides, sand art display, Lepakshi and APTDC pavilions, handicraft stalls, graffiti wall and painting, beach volleyball, sports and adventure activities, kite festival and LED kites, Quad bikes, fireworks display would be the highlights of the festival. Accroding to tourism officials, preparations for the event are on full swing. Event managers have been finalised. Various types of water and adventure sports, children’s play area, food courts and stalls – everything would be centred around the beach within two kilometre stretch.
In this public event, meant for building the brand image of Vizag and simultaneously promote tourism, around one lakh turnout is expected per day at the various venues of the three-day Utsav. The state government has sanctioned Rs 2.75 crores for the fest. Besides the tourism department, GVMC and VUDA are other stakeholders for the mega public event. For more information, public can log onto www.visakhautsav.com