Roni Antony & Sarthak Kanjilal
Port Blair, Nov 05: Islanders are bouncing off the walls to mark the beginning of the ‘Island Tourism Festival’ starting from tomorrow at ITF Ground from 05:30 PM.
Celebrated once in a year, ‘Island Tourism Festival’ brings Islanders in the mood of ‘party’ for nearly 10 days.
This time the ‘Island Tourism Festival’ will commence at ITF Ground where the festival was actually celebrated for many years in the past not like last year when the festival was celebrated in Rajiv Gandhi Park, bringing a drop in enthusiasm among the islanders.
The Lt Governor, Andaman & Nicobar Island and Vice Chairman Island Development Agency, Admiral D K Joshi will inaugurate the festival in the presence of the Member of Parliament, AN Islands, Mr Kuldeep Rai Sharma and Mr Chetan B Shanghi, Chief Secretary, AN Administration.
It is learnt that artists from Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim and West Bengal will be performing in the event including the local artists of the region.
However, locals are slight upset and think that usage of only one circle of the ITF ground may cause chaos in the only biggest festival celebrated here in the islands.
“Earlier in the past many years, even after the usage of the entire circles of the ground it used to be packed by the thousands of visiting public, usage of only one circle may result in causing huge trouble for the people and also will bring down the spirit of the festival among the locals,” said a local resident of the island.
However talking to Andaman Sheekha, Mr M Vinod, President, Andaman Association of Tour Operators said that the Island Tourism Festival will be an attraction for the tourist in night hours, which this place actually lacks. He also praised the initiative of ANIIDCO for operating a floating restaurant during this festival and said that the visiting tourists will be enjoying it.
