The festival, which started on November 27, is a 10-day-long cultural extravaganza that exhibits the glorious Awadhi culture.

Shopkeepers are disappointed by the low turnout of visitors. “We were expecting good business here but very few people are coming to the fest. The response of the visitors has been poor,” said Sonu Saini, a shopkeeper at a crockery stall, which has come from Khurja. “Generally, we do good business in such festivals but the situation is completely different here,” he said.

Vinay Kumar Gupta, a handicrafts shopkeeper from Bijnore, said sales have plunged this time. “I have been setting up a stall for the last 3 years. But, this is the worst year. Probably, people don’t like to come to such a far off place,” he said.

When asked about the response of visitors to the Lucknow Mahotsav, District Magistrate Chandra Bhanu said the Mahotsav has been picking up slowly. “For the initial one or two days, there were only a few visitors. But now, people from the city as well as rural areas have been thronging the fest,” he said.

He added the venue helped in preventing traffic congestion in the city. “City roads would have been choked if the fest were organised at any other venue,” the DM explained.

In over a decade since it started, the venue of the annual Mahotsav has been repeatedly changed, starting from the Begum Hazrat Mahal Park to the Laxman Mela Ground to the Ambedkar Ground. And now, the Lucknow Mahotsav has been moved to the city’s outskirts. The Ramabai Ambedkar Ground, which is this year’s venue, is around 14 km from the city centre.