* Attracts nearly 6000 tourists
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 26: The first-ever Monsoon Festival at the world famous hill station Patnitop concluded today with enthralling cultural and musical performances by popular artists and singers from within and outside Jammu and Kashmir.
The second day was marked by soulful sufi performance by Ali Brothers and foot tapping Punjabi performance by Armaan Bedil.
The folk art giants of Jammu region including renowned Romalo Ram and Party, Ram Ditta and Party, Kud Dance Pancheri Party, Deepak, Vishakha and Divya Bharti were amongst the main attractions .
The first day had seen eclectic performances by Rinku Mansar Wala, Deepak and Group, and Punjabi Singer, Prabh Gill.
Organised by Patnitop Development Authority, Directorate of Tourism Jammu, District Administrations Udhampur and Ramban, the festival as part of Azadi Ka Amrut Mahotsav, exposed tourists to traditional culture, music, cuisines, handicrafts, handlooms, fun games, besides performances by Celebrity Artists from outside J&K at a single venue. It also provided a significant boom to the footfall at Patnitop, so much so that, the hotels were found fully packed and which helped creating revenue generation, and employment opportunities for other other tourism stakeholders.
Divisional Commissioner Jammu congratulated PDA & Directorate Tourism for the successful initiative, as it clocked approximately 6000 tourist footfall. Director Tourism, Jammu said the festival will encourage tourism in the region and promote attractions in the Patnitop circuit.
Sher Singh, CEO PDA, said, “The festival is aimed at promoting tourism of different kinds (leisure, adventure, religious etc) in and around Patnitop, such as Sudh Mahadev, Shankhpal, Gouri Kund, Nag Temple, Shivgali, Mantalai.”
Further, he added, “Adventure activities like Gandola at Skyview Empyrean, Zipline at Patnitop and Sanasar, trekking at picturesque routes and so on found in this circuit have enormous tourism potential which required to be explored and harvested. We’ll be organising more events in coming days, make them regular annual affair. We are looking at reaching a footfall of more than 6 lakh this year.”
It may be mentioned here that nearly 3 lakh tourists have visited Patnitop circuit since lockdown relaxations made in second week of June .
“Government schemes like Fit India, Swachh Bharat, PDA’s initiative Green Patnitop, Clean Patnitop were emphasized during the festival. We are thankful to Udhampur & Ramban Administrations, Police, Tourism Department and other government departments for their active direct and indirect support,” CEO PDA said. He made a special mention regarding the efforts made by Umesh Shan, Assistant Director Tourism NHW. Artists felicitated by the Patnitop Development Authority & Tourism Department.
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