Although the Tourism Department sponsored an amount of Rs 1.99 crore for holding this year’s Cherry Blossom Festival it however did not earn any profit in return.
This was informed by Right to Information (RTI) activist, Disparsing Rani at a press conference here today.
After gathering information through RTI, Rani questioned the use of holding such a festival when the State government does not earn any profit out of it.
He also said that as per the RTI reply from the Tourism Department, the payment to singers and performers at the Cherry Blossom Festival was made by the organisers.
“As I see it Meghalaya is being used as a dustbin. As of now the Tourism Department is the way through how the State is being dirtied, without any profit and those who are profiting from the Cherry Blossom Festival are those with music talent,” Rani said.
“There is no point in holding the Cherry Blossom Festival if it does not bring any revenue or benefit to the State,” he added.
Rani also rejected the government’s claim that the Cherry Blossom Festival will attract foreign tourists into Meghalaya as well as give opportunities to the local musicians to showcase their talents.
According to him, the government said that around 70 percent who visited the Cherry Blossom Festival are tourists but he questioned the source of this data.
“From where do they collect the figures on the number of tourists who came to attend this festival,” he asked.
The RTI activist however said that the Tourism Department does not have a policy on how to cash in on the tourists visiting the State.
He also said that the Tourism Department spent Rs 1 crore for the Cherry Blossom Festival in 2021. An amount of Rs 1.99 crore was spent on the festival in 2022.
“But the department informed me that the festival held in 2021 was disrupted by the Mukroh firing incident. If they could not hold the festival properly, I will have to find out where such a huge amount of money has gone,” Rani said.
He called for the introduction of the tier-based card system as proposed in earlier years in order to verify domestic and foreign tourists visiting the State.
