The famous Pakistan born singer Adnan Sami singing at the banks of Dal Lake here, according to the singer, was a dream come true for him but the empty seats and the invitations not being distributed properly could put the officials of the Tourism department in a spot of bother.
The show was jointly organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Jammu and Kashmir Tourism department.
Sources said, that the responsibility to invite the guests for the show was given to Tourism department. “The invitation cards were not distributed properly due to which many seats were empty at the venue,” sources claimed.
They said, “The concert was organized to send a message that normalcy is returning to Kashmir and to woo the tourists as the 2017 has witnessed steep decline in the number of tourists visiting the Valley.
Now the J&K government is looking at promoting winter tourism in Kashmir.”
Insiders revealed that invitation cards not being distributed among the desired audience has not gone well with the people at the top.
“The Tourism department wanted to take the entire credit for the show but MHA declaring that it was behind organizing the concert pushed the officials of the Tourism department on back foot,” sources said.
It may be recalled that J&K Tourism department has been hogging the headlines for wrong reasons during the past one year. “There are allegations that officials of the department have spent huge amounts on foreign trips and other trips within the country at the pretext of promoting tourism but the results have been disappointing,” sources said.
They said, “Just a few day back Tourism department organized Abha Hanjura’s show at the banks of Dal Lake. It proved to be a flop show as the invitations were not distributed properly and many VIPs skipped the show. It’s for the second time within a few days that distribution of the invitation cards is haunting the officials again.”
Insiders claimed that many invitation cards were distributed in a hurry on Saturday morning after the top officer of the administration blasted the officials of the Tourism department for taking his instructions lightly.
“Despite last minute efforts put in by the Tourism department to invite the guests many seats remained vacant and Adnan Sami had to remain content with half of the audience,” sources added.
They said, “People at the helm have taken a serious note about the lapse and there is every possibility about a few heads rolling in coming days. This concert was a big event for the J&K government and the instructions had been passed well in advance to make it a big success but it turned the other way round”…….