Mysore : The City of Palaces is all set to host its 404th jamboo savari, the last leg of Nada Habba Dasara, on October 4.

This is the maiden jamboo savari after the demise of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the scion of the royal family, last December.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will launch the jamboo savari on the Palace premises by offering flower petals to the idol of Goddess Chamundeshwari kept inside the 750-kg golden howdah, mounted on elephant Arjuna during the auspicious ‘Makara Lagna,’ between 1.40 pm and 2.10 pm.

Prior to this, the chief minister will offer puja to Nandi Dhwaja near Balarama Gate of the Palace at the auspicious ‘Dhanur Lagna,’ between 1.01 pm and 1.31 pm.

It is the third consecutive year that elephant Arjuna is performing the important role of carrying the howdah, ever since he succeeded Balarama in 2012.

While Arjuna will be the cynosure of all eyes, howdah veteran Balarama will perform the duty as ‘Nishaane’ elephant. He will start ahead of Arjuna on the day, indicating the beginning of the procession. A total of 14 elephants are camping at the Palace premises. Barring Durga Parameshwari and Gopalaswamy, the other jumbos will participate in the procession, said forest veterinarian Dr Nagaraj.

According to him, all the elephants are healthy and are ready for the arduous task on Saturday. On Thursday, the final round of the dress rehearsal of the Dasara finale was held on the palace premises.

The personnel of the city police, City Armed Reserve (CAR) and the mounted police participated.

Police Commissioner M A Saleem, who supervised the arrangements, expressed satisfaction.

A 8,000-strong contingent of the police (highest so far) has been roped in for security on the D-day. It includes two companies of Rapid Action Force, one platoon of commandos from Internal Security Division, Bangalore, besides personnel attached to the city police wing, Home Guards, CAR, District Armed Reserve and Karnataka State Reserve Police.

For the first time in the history of Dasara, the City police are deploying a helicopter with two police personnel aboard to keep tabs on the vital installations in the city, away from the jamboo savari route.

Two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) will be flown this year against one last year, as part of security. 

While one UAV will cover the area inside the Palace, the other will hover over the procession route.