The Hindu : Flak over entrusting fetes to private groups

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 19, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Flak over entrusting fetes to private groups

By S. Anil Radhakrishnan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM April 18. Entrusting private event management groups with the task of organising Kerala Tourism's fairs and festivals such as the annual Nishagandhi festival, citing "overstretched'' staff, has come in for flak from employees of the Department of Tourism.

The roping in of event management groups has come as a jolt to the employees of the department, who were involved in the successful conduct of the annual fairs and festivals in God's Own Country over the last two decades. The decision to entrust the responsibility to private groups comes even while the department boasts a full-fledged publicity wing headed by a Deputy Director.

``The staff attached to the publicity wing and other wings who had been toiling hard for the success of the fairs and festivals in the State capital over the years has now been reduced to mere spectators,'' says a department official.

According to the employees, there have been no complaints in the conduct of the fairs and festivals, especially the Nishagandhi festival, organised by the department. The motive behind roping in private parties is suspect; it could even involve diversion of Government funds, they allege.

``There was no need for handing over the responsibility to event management groups. We had considered the business as part of our job. It was not as if it had proved a burden, as is being sought to be made out by the Government,'' he said. The Government is holding a meeting of recognised service organisations on April 24 to reduce the staff strength in the department.

Those who had been associated with the fairs and festivals such as the Kerala Village Fair in Kovalam, the Great Elephant March, Nishagandhi dance and music festival and the Onam Week celebrations say they had "lost motivation and are completely sidelined in the tourism promotion activities'' of Kerala Tourism.

In the international fairs such as ITB Berlin, the World Travel Mart in London, International Travel Mart in China, Pacific Asian Travel Association (PATA) in Singapore and the Arabia Travel Mart in Dubai, the department staff are kept out at the very last minute although proposals are made to send them.

It is the Tourism Minister, Chairperson of the KTDC, the Secretary, Director of Tourism, Managing Director of KTDC and representatives of the empanelled advertising agencies who regularly fly to these international fairs and festivals to promote God's Own Country. The staff are left to attend the fairs and festivals and roadshows within the country.

During the just concluded Nishagandhi festival, the Tourism Secretary, T. Balakrishnan, and the Director of Tourism, Alkesh Kumar Sharma, had to seek the assistance of the department staff to coordinate the publicity and to take care of the artistes' transfer from the airport and stay in the capital.

``The staff politely turned down the request and did not cooperate as the Government had entrusted the festival to event management groups. The entire funds are provided to them and why should we assist the private group to get the mileage?'' asks another official of the department.

The festival, usually held in January every year, was shifted to April as part of the broad strategy to extend the tourist season. The festival, revamped to incorporate folk, food, craft and indigenous flower show with the roping of Rajasthan as the partner State, was also provided Government funds to the tune of Rs. 20 lakhs compared to the previous Rs. 15 lakhs.

Despite the increased financial support and roping in of event management groups, the staff says the organisers could not bring in reputed artistes as in previous years, and allege that the quality of programmes at the Nishagandhi fest had suffered.

In the previous edition of the festival held from January 25 to 31 last year, M. Balamuralikrishna (Carnatic music), Sulakhshana Jayaram (Bharatnatyam), Vijayalakshmi (Mohiniyattom), Chandrabali Rudra Gupta (Rabindra Sangeet), Shila Mehta (Kathak), Thara Kalyan (Kuchuppudi) and Umayalpuram Sivaraman (Talavadya Katchery) had performed. In addition, the Sounds of Silence and a Malaysian cultural troupe also staged performances.

However, this year the organisers could rope in only Divya Unni (Bharatnatyam), Pateesha Suresh (Assamese classical dance), Karuna Moorthi (Fusion Music), Nandini K. Mehta and Murali Mohan (Kathak), Sivaram V. C (Kuchuppudi) and Bhimbavathi Devi (Manipuri). Apart from them, only Rajasthani folk art forms and toppers of youth festivals presented dance forms this year.

``Our apprehension is whether the Government will entrust the road shows, fairs and festivals being organised by the Kerala Tourism in the major metros and other cities also to the private event management groups,'' says a department official.

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