Port Blair, Jan 27: The lone carnival of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Island Tourism Festival (ITF) suffered heavy budget cut this year resulting in saving of Rs. 2 crore.
Addressing a huge gathering at ITF’s concluding function on 25th Jan 2014 night at ITF Ground, the Lt. Governor of A & N Islands, Lt. Get (Retd.) A K Singh expressed concern over the expenditure that is involved in creating the infrastructure for ITF, every year.
“As an Administrator I am answerable for every a single paisa that is spent by the Administration and hence this year we had decided to cut the budget of ITF by 60 percent. Therefore this time the Administration could save about Rs 2 crore on this front,” the Lt. Governor said.
As far as having the artistes from the mainland for presenting shows is concerned, the Lt. Governor said that this time, with a view to giving better opportunity to the talented artistes of these islands, the Administration involved about 1000 local artistes who participated and presented cultural programmes in Port Blair as well as other parts of islands.
“In this front also we were able to save 35 percent of funds,” he added.
The Lt. Governor opined that instead of Government participation, private entrepreneurs should be involved in staging the ITF programmes henceforth.
He also invited suggestions from the general public on how we can make this ITF better by involving the private entrepreneurs.
The Lt. Governor also thanked the artistes from mainland for performing in these islands and urged them to act as ambassadors to convey the message of unity in diversity prevailing here.
The main attraction of the valedictory function was the performance by Tanushree Rakshit, founder and creative Director of FLAMES School of Dance, Pune.
Tanushree along with her troupe presented some dances viz. waltz, rumba, salsa on the occasion. The students of the dance workshop also performed during the valedictory function.
The dance performance and some awesome acrobatic in between by Young Brothers Club drew loud applause from the audience. In the beginning, a visual presentation was made on the activities and cultural events of the 11 day ITF.
