Organised for the second consecutive year by the District Administration and the Chamapaner Pavagadh Gram Panchayat, the Mahotsav aims to help Pavagadh gain prominence on the tourism map of Gujarat as well as the country. All attention, naturally, has been turned on the devotees who flock to the Kalika Mata temple on the hill during the auspicious Chaitra Navratri period.

``The idea was to first attract the devotees coming for the darshan of the deity of the Hill by organising a mela and a variety of cultural programmes to give them an opportunity at entertainment and shopping while they are here so that they remember this occasion for long,'' said District Collector A K Rakesh.

By popularising the annual festival through the devotees, the district administration hopes to attract tourists who may not have visited the place otherwise and shape Pavagadh into an important tourist destination in the country in the future.

Kiosks selling various handicraft items created by rural and tribal artisans across the State have been arranged as part of the mela besides other stalls giving information about various government schemes for the masses. The cultural programmes organised every night during the week featured performances by the Udaipur West Zone Culture, Darpana Academy (Ahmedabad), Songs and Drama Division (Pune), acclaimed singers Naresh and Mahesh Kanodia and various rural and tribal artistes from the district. A spokesperson of the State Information Department told Express Newsline, ``This place already attracts visitors from neighbouring states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. By gradually developing this festival to the level of the Tarnetar fair, the district administration seeks to invite visitors from other parts of the country as well''.

The District Administration is reported to have spent as much as Rs 10 lakhs during this year's Mahotsav. ``However, once the fair gains popularity, we plan to charge nominal amounts from the spectators and handover the funds thus collected to the gram panchayat for developing the Pavagadh Hill on the lines of Vaishnav Devi,'' said Rakesh.