Mangaluru : The second edition of “Hombelaku Kreedotsava”, a sports and entertainment programme for elected members of gram panchayats and their staff in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, will be held at Sahyadri Engineering College grounds in Mangaluru on February 22. The event is organised by Gram Swaraj Prathistana.

Taking to reporters here on Tuesday, Manjunath Bhandary, MLC, said the event will be for 6,082 panchayat members and more than 2,500 panchayat employees in the two coastal districts. The event will be held to being together the elected members and the staff, who work closely with people. Apart from various sports, they will be involved in different cultural competitions.

There will be parade of participants where they will display models related to themes namely ‘Nanna Kanasina Bharata’, ‘Gram Swaraj’, and ‘Karavali Samskruti’. The best marching contingent will receive prize money of ₹50,000, while the second team will get ₹25,000.

The sports will include volleyball and lemon and spoon competitions. There will also be group dance, patriotic song singing, folk dance, and other cultural competitions. The participants will be given t-shirts and food.

The State government had given ₹10 lakh to the event last year. The government has promised more funds for this year’s event. Mr. Bhandary said RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar have agreed to take part in the event.