Verinag Anantnag winter festival fails to draw crowds,locals claim

Sameer Ahmad

Anantnag: It failed to pull tourists to the Verinag development authority’s winter fiesta organized with the Tourism Department Kashmir here in the South Kashmir area of Anantnag district, which was intended to boost adventure tourism.

According to sources, the festival was witnessed by a local populace however, neither the tourists nor the people from the district were seen at the festival.

Sources said that the Verinag development authority installed the stalls at the festival and most of them were empty and very few local people visited the stalls at the festival. Added that in Verinag the winter festival should be for three days like Pahalgam and Gulmarg and the department should make accommodations for tourists where they can stay. In Verinag there are no accommodations for tourists except a few huts, they said.

According to locals last year Tourism department had organized the same festival in verinag which was attended by hundreds of people including tourists besides a large number of the local populace.” We just came to know that the verinag development authority has organized a program here but after arriving here locals witnessed poor participation of tourists which saddened us.” said a local resident wishing anonymity.

Locals added that verinag development authority has lost its pace of organizing such events which are meant to boost tourism. ‘We are surprised to know that the Tourism department had organized such an event in verinag last year, the department organized a mega festival which benefited the people affiliated with the tourism trade. The Development Authority should have organized it on a scale that could give tourism boost. The tourism department should promote Verinag as they are promoting Pahalgam, Gulmarg, and other tourist places, they said.

Meanwhile, Arising state tried to contact CEO Verinag, but he didn’t receive our call.