Hundreds of people celebrate new year at Patnitop

Ramban, Jan 1: Hundreds of people including tourists from various parts of the country  celebrated  at Patnitop the arrival of new year .

They danced and sang during the  night long programme-Patnitop Winter Bonanza, organised by the Directorate of Tourism in collaboration with the Patnitop Development Authority (PDA) and the administrations of Udhampur and Ramban districts.

The famous Punjabi singers, Sangram Hanjra and Sultana Nooran enthralled the audience.

The chief guest, DIG, Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban (DKR) Range, Dr Sunil Gupta, BDC Chairman, Batote, Rajeshwar Kumar and Chief Executive Officer, PDA Thakur Sher Singh jointly inaugurated the programme by lighting the traditional lamp.

Earlier, in the day the prominent local artists from J&K Academy of Arts, Culture and  Languages entertained the tourists.

The hot-air balloon, paragliding, Zip-Line games etc were also arranged by the Department of Tourism for the entertainment of tourists.

According to Chief Executive Officer, PDA, Sher Singh, all hotels, lodges and huts have been fully occupied or booked for the past few days in Patnitop, Batote and Kud. He said that the purpose of such programmes is to attract more and more tourists to Patnitop and increase the livelihood of all stakeholders. He said that in comparison to last year's 6.5 lakh tourists' arrival here this year about 10 lakh tourists have arrived in the Patnitop area.