Taj Mahotsava begins amid controversy
Vishal Sharma
New Delhi/ Agra. The 16th Annual Taj Mahotsava was inaugurated in Agra on Sunday by the UP Development Council Chairman Amar Singh amid apprehensions of the festival venue being taken over by the Agra Municipal Corporation for realisation of due taxes.
However, the corporation has agreed to defer its action till the festival’s completion. Organised in the Shilp Gram, the Taj Mahotsava has more than 450 craftsmen, from across India and about 1500 artists, participating in it.
Talking to Business Standard, DK Burman, joint director (tourism), UP, said the ten- day-long Taj Mahotsava was an international event and it was included in the national tourism calendar.
This year, he said, the state government had set aside Rs 600 crore for the development of tourism in UP and a major part of this fund was to be spent on the Braj region which included the towns of Agra and Mathura.
He said a marketing strategy was being planned by the state government to publicise the Taj Mahal and sell tourism packages centered around the Taj.
According to Burman, real-estate companies like Taneja Developers, Unitech, Parsvanath, Ansal, Narsi, Omaxe, Ashoka Group, Techman Buildwell and Eminent Infra Developers apart from telecom infrastructure companies like Idea, BSNL and Nokia were sponsoring the major cultural events being organised at the Taj Fest.
He said, “For the first time in this festival, the Agra administration had setup remote surveillance of the entire Shilp Gram premises with the technical assistance of a Taiwanese company and the surveillance video was being webcast through the internet to be visible of mobile phones of the police and administrative officials through GPRS.
However, the corporation has agreed to defer its action till the festival’s completion. Organised in the Shilp Gram, the Taj Mahotsava has more than 450 craftsmen, from across India and about 1500 artists, participating in it.
Talking to Business Standard, DK Burman, joint director (tourism), UP, said the ten- day-long Taj Mahotsava was an international event and it was included in the national tourism calendar.
This year, he said, the state government had set aside Rs 600 crore for the development of tourism in UP and a major part of this fund was to be spent on the Braj region which included the towns of Agra and Mathura.
He said a marketing strategy was being planned by the state government to publicise the Taj Mahal and sell tourism packages centered around the Taj.
According to Burman, real-estate companies like Taneja Developers, Unitech, Parsvanath, Ansal, Narsi, Omaxe, Ashoka Group, Techman Buildwell and Eminent Infra Developers apart from telecom infrastructure companies like Idea, BSNL and Nokia were sponsoring the major cultural events being organised at the Taj Fest.
He said, “For the first time in this festival, the Agra administration had setup remote surveillance of the entire Shilp Gram premises with the technical assistance of a Taiwanese company and the surveillance video was being webcast through the internet to be visible of mobile phones of the police and administrative officials through GPRS.
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