Horse Polo revived after more than 06 decades.
Youth main stakeholders in tourism promotion: Dr. Owais
SNS KASHMIR
Bandipora Sep 03:
To Celebrate the best Off beat tourist destination of India, a Grand Gurez festival was organised to enhance and promote tourism in the Gurez valley.
The festival was organized by Department of tourism in collaboration with District Administration Bandipora.
A Grand show of local Cuisines, Culture, customary handicrafts and sports of the Gurez valley was held on the occasion.
A special feature of the festival was presentation of cultural items by various local groups particularly in Sheena, Dardi, Pahari, and other local dialects.
Performances of artists from JK Academy of Art, culture and languages was also eye catching for the audience.
A number of stalls were set up by different departments including animal and sheep husbandry, handloom, sericulture, handicrafts, tourism, ICDS, NRLM, KVK Gurez besides locals showcasing traditional and heritage items used in Gurez.
The festival was attended by Deputy commissioner Bandipora Dr. Owais Ahmed, Director Tourism G. N. Itoo, Commander 109 Brigade Dawar, Pranav Kumar, SSP Mohd Zahid, ADC Bandipora Waseem Raja, Joint Director Planning Imtiyaz Ahmad, Deputy Director Tourism for publicity Deeba Khalid, SDM Gurez and other concerned officers from District Administration and Tourism Department.
DDC members Gurez and Tulail,BDC members , civil society members also attended the festival.
Local people in thousands and tourists visited the stalls and evinced keen interest in the products on display.
In his welcome Address Director tourism G.N. Itoo said that Gurez recently got National level best offbeat tourist destination with the efforts of Tourism Department, District administration Bandipora, and locals of Gurez.
He Appreciated the Deputy commissioner Bandipora for his contribution in tourism sector.
He said modern tourists prefer Off beat destination and urged the youth to participate with full potential in promotion of tourism and local culture of Gurez.
He said efforts are on forefront to make Gurez all weather Tourist Destination.
He stressed on maintaing the age old tradition of cleanliness and sanitation of Gurez along with development of tourism related activities.
Speaking on the occasion Deputy commissioner Bandipora Dr. Owais Ahmed congratulated the people of Gurez for best off beat tourist destination award in India.
He said youth are main stakeholders in tourism promotion in Gurez Valley. He said tourism not only provides enjoyment but also employment to youth.
Dr. Owais urged youth to come forward for tourism promotion and developmental works in the area.
Gurez youth have performed exemplary work in promoting Hospitality in Ecologically sensitive area of Gurez.
He said developmental works in crores are ongoing in Gurez and district administration is committed to develop the area at par with other areas of UT.
Dr. Owais said that 2.5 MW power project by NHPC will soon be made functional to provide uninterrupted power supply to Gurez.
On the occasion a Horse polo match was played between two groups of local youth.
Locals informed that Horse polo has been revived after more than 60 years in Gurez.
They appreciated the efforts of Tourism Department and District Administration for organising such a grand festival and reviving age old tradition of Horse Polo in Gurez.
Dr. Owais said the aim of the festival was to emphasise adventure, river, eco tourism in addition to the culture and art of Gurez.
Under the initiative of Adventure tourism, Deputy Commissioner along with Director tourism flagged off group of students for kayaking, rafting, and trecking.
Apart from the adventure tourism activities the all terrain vehicles (ATV)was first time introduced in Gurez which was lauded by locals.