Kishtwar, Oct09: With an aim to promote tourism and attract tourist footfall to the far-flung virgin valleys of District Kishtwar, a grand and first of its kind “Warwan Festival” was organized the other day here at block headquarter Warwan under the aegis of Tourism Department J&K and with the support of Directorate of Tourism Jammu and in collaboration with Kishtwar Development Authority and District Administration Kishtwar.
SDM Marwah, Dr Mohsin Raza was the Chief Guest on the occasion, who inaugurated the programme in presence of Guest of Honour, DDC Councillor Warwan Abdul Razaq Lone and others.
DDC Councillor Marwah Sheikh Zaffarullah; Accounts Officer DC Office, Imran Ahmed Kichloo; Tehsildar Warwan, Gagandeep Singh; BDO Warwan, Manzoor Ahmed Gundna; BDO Inderwal, Tasleem Javaid Wani; ALC/DIO, DIPR/AD Employment Amit Kumar; Principal GDC Marwah, Principal GHSS Warwan; ZEO Warwan, BMO Dachhan, SHO Warwan Sameer Batt, representatives of NGOs namely CHINAR international and Warwan Valley eco-Tourist Society, PRI members, various District Officials, Craftsmen, artists besides a large number of civil society members, students, locals and Nature Enthusiasts were present on the occasion.
In the festival, multifarious Tourism activities like cultural items, Horse riding, Angling, Heritage walk, Trekking and local Cuisine remained the main attraction, wherein a large number of nature enthusiasts and locals participated with zeal and enthusiasm.
At the outset, SDM Marwah, in presence of PRIs, flagged off the trekking expedition starting from Kaveerto Sukhnai, Warwan wherein scores of enthusiastic trekkers took part.
Besides, in the festival, the renowned local and UT level artists and students enthralled the audiences through their scintillating singing and dance performances highlighting the traditional and cultural elements of UT and particularly Warwan Valley. The performances got all around applause from audiences.
During the festival, SDM Marwahalongwith other District Officers inspected the stalls displayed by various departments, entrepreneurs, local craftsman, NGOs which portrayed local Art & crafts, traditional products, textiles, local food, souvenirs for tourists, naturopathic medicare and many more.
The stalls of local handicrafts, handloom products, and local cuisines mainly Rajma-Chawal, Tromba Tchut (Buckwheat/millet Roti) with Kehwah Chai (Local Tea recipe) were displayed to showcase the taste, tradition and culture of rich values and unique creativity of the area.
The herbal stalls of the Forest department displayed the herbs, medicinal plants and the treasures of these local forests for the tourists and locals.
Simultaneously, a Special Summary Revision of Electoral Roll-2022 stall was also instituted by concerned BLOs for on spot registration, addition, deletion and modification of new and old electors under ongoing SVEEP2022 programme.
Meanwhile, the pamphlets depicting various self-employment schemes including the Tourist Village Scheme under Mission Youth J&K were also distributed among the students and locals by Employment Department Kishtwar under the guidance of AD, DE&CC Amit Kumar.
The visitors were also briefed about the Tourism schemes under Mission Youth Initiative including “Stay Houses” which can be instrumental in raising livelihood by exploiting tourism potential of this area.
Besides, free screening, medical check-up and AYUSH medicine distribution stall was also spotted in the festival by Doctors of SKIMS and AYUSH Department Kishtwar where a large number of senior citizens and women were provided on spot medicare advice and facilities.
Speaking on the occasion, the SDM Marwah threw light on the significance of this festival and said that the UT Government has laid special focus on development of the best possible tourism infrastructure and facilities in far flung and unexplored areas.
He highlighted that Warwan valley is rich in Biodiversity & tourist destination and this festival will certainly play a key role in traversing this incredible Biodiversity and making it one of the favourite destinations for nature enthusiasts.
He called upon the locals to take as much advantage of this festival as possible and assured them that the department will organise more such programmes in the near future and will provide them all possible assistance at each and every point to bring out those aspects of the tourism sector which need yet to be explored.
The local PRIs and others also spoke on the occasion and hoped that the festival would definitely attract a large number of tourists from across the UT.
Meanwhile, the winners of the Horse riding competition were also felicitated on the occasion.
On the sidelines of the festival, a Plantation drive was also conducted by Forest Division Marwah under Green J&K in presence of SDM Marwah and PRIs to sensitise the participants about the conservation and protection of the environment.
