Mangalore, January 12: With only hours left for the inauguration of the 17th Natioinal Youth Festival here in the coastal city, the organizers appear to be racing against time to finish off the preparation work even as the launch of the food festival, the first event in the calendar, was postponed to afternoon.
On Thursday, as day broke Mangalore Central Railway Station was swarmed with delegates and guests from across the country. But they were in for a chaotic reception as arrangements and hospitality were quite off the mark.
Chaos reigned supreme as delegates and guests were left to fend for themselves in the absence of proper guidance and travel arrangements.
Ram Dayal Sen, one of the awardees from Rajasthan, was very disappointed as there was no protocol officer deputed to escort him and there was no pick up for him from the station.
According to him the awardees were treated very casually and being ignored in terms of the facilities. “I was selected for the awards by the government of India taking into consideration my 10-12 years of service in field of social work. I didn't expect such a treatment,” he fumed.
“Although several pick-up vehicles were parked outside the station, drivers were not well-informed and hence refused to oblige us. They did not seem to have any record of our travel,” added Arunkumawat, another awardee.
Even the director of National Youth Project , S.N. Subbarao, who arrived from Bangalore, had to wait for 10 minutes as there was no festival coordinators to receive him and inform him about his accommodation.
However, Deputy Commissioner, Mangalore, Channappa Gawda, said that the lodging , food and travel arrangements had been coordinated well.
“The pick up and drop of all the guest and delegates have been done according to the schedule,” he told coastaldigest.com.
The situation at Mangala Stadium, the key venue of the event, was also near-chaotic as confusion prevailed over the opening of the food festival, which was scheduled for 10 am. A posse of journalists and photographers had arrived at the venue in the morning, but had to return disappointed.
According to highly placed sources, the inauguration had to be postponed due the delay of the flight of one of the chief guests. However, the coordinator of Nehru Yuva Kendra said no inaugural ceremony for the food festival was scheduled. "It is a miscommunication," he said.
Meanwhile, there was a long queue of officers at the DUDC cell at the DC office on Thursday morning for obtaining the entry passes (with photo). The number of relatives of the officers was more than the officers, being sent on duty for the festival, said a source.
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