Navratra festival; Tourism Deptt organises Garba & Dandiya night
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Journalist Naresh Sharma was awarded first prize for best photography in the ‘Sabse Bada Ghumakkar’ Photography Competition organised by Directorate of Tourism, Jammu under the aegis of Department of Tourism, Jammu and Kashmir Government.
The first award with a cash prize of Rs 15, 000 was presented to Naresh Sharma, by Vivekanand Rai, Director Tourism Jammu in presence of Sunaina Sharma, Joint Director, J&K Tourism and other dignitaries during Garba & Dandiya night function organised by Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department in collaboration District Administration Jammu at Padma Shri Padma Sachdev Govt PG College for Women, Gandhi Nagar, on Sunday as a part of Navratra celebrations.
The event was widely enjoyed by the audience who witnessed performances from various artists.
Vivekanand Rai, Director, Tourism (Jammu) said that the festival will help increase tourism and cultural exchange in the Union Territory.
“We started the Navratra festival from Katra this year and now we are holding a Garba and Dandiya night in Jammu after a gap of two years due to COVID pandemic. We will keep doing activities that will increase tourism and public participation,” Rai said.
“Such events will also lead to cultural exchange, interactions of different cultures with each other. A culture will be able to adopt the good aspects from the other,” he added.
“It is a great initiative by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir that Dandiya night is being held and Navratra is being celebrated in the Union Territory. We suffered heavily during the pandemic. However, events like this give us hope that something good is on the horizon for the sector. There is a lot of scope in Jammu and Kashmir tourism because this region has a rich history,” he said.
Sunaina Sharma, Joint Director, J&K Tourism also praised the picture clicked by Naresh Sharma which depicts culture and heritage of Jammu and Kashmir.
While congratulating Naresh Sharma, she recalled the posting of Naresh Sharma in Jammu with the national newspaper Indian Express.
There are many pictures which Naresh Sharma clicked and received awards from various organisations.
Meanwhile, Deepak Thakur from Doda was conferred with second prize of Rs 10,000 while Irfan Choudhary from Poonch got third prize of Rs 5000.