THE National Council of Indian Culture (NCIC) is looking towards government and corporate TT to offset the $3.5 million cost for the 2025 Divali Nagar, which is scheduled for October 11 to 19. The festival of Divali would be observed on October 20.

NCIC President Surujdeo Mangaroo said in 2024, then PNM administration under former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley gifted the organisation $500,000, “not the amount we expected but it helped a lot.”

Speaking at a media launch on August 27 at the Chaguanas site, Mangaroo said although the NCIC had been involved in fund-raising for the past 37 years and hoped to continue for another century, the Divali Nagar was its main source of revenue generation.