Cultural festival, village carnival held at Mahu

Ramban, Oct 29: Army and Civil Administration Ramban on Sunday organised a Cultural Festival and Village Carnival at Mahu nestled amidst nature’s lap, surrounded by the mighty Riliyar and Pir Panjal mountain ranges and situated on the banks of Mahu river.

Beautiful Mahu village inhabited by 400 households, since decades, aspired to open avenues for offbeat tourism, however, remoteness of the region coupled with internal situations and limited lines of communication became a serious impediment to realize Mohuiite’s dream. The Indian Army stepped forward to materialise this long pending desire of the residents of Mahu.

To boost local economy by means of promoting Mahu and Mangat valley as an offbeat tourist destination, Indian Army in active collaboration with District Administration Ramban, organised a Cultural Fest and Village Carnival for two days beginning today at village Mahu in Banihal sub division. The grand event was conceptualized by the Indian Army after witnessing the huge success of the Winter Carnival that had been organized earlier this year jointly by the Indian Army and JKTDC.

The event was organised under the aegis of Op Sadbhavana and is a part of a multipronged initiative which is a subset of grand design of positive engagement of youth and provide opportunities of regular income to wean the population away from migrating to Kashmir for employment.

Celebrations were carried out in two parts concurrently including local culture and diversity was showcased in a two hour long cultural fest wherein, participants from all corners ie. Srinagar, Jammu, Banihal, Gool, Ramban, Khari and Mahu represented their rich local heritage. Festival was embellished with a wide variety of entertainment programmes attracting interest from all sections of the society.

On the other hand, a village carnival in the form of village fair was organized which consisted of 20 stalls offering fun activities for children, muscle flexing completion for youth, shopping arcade for girls and succulent cuisine for foodies. A huge crowd of approximately 4000 people from far and wide of J&K UT witnessed this cultural fest.

High ranking Civil and Military dignitaries attended the event. The chief guest, complimented the organizers of the event and expressed gratification on collaborative efforts of Indian Army and civil administration. He further stated that such events besides promoting tourism and local culture bring identity of pride to the village and its inhabitants. The Remote region of Jammu division is blessed with yet to be explored pristine natural beauty, he added.