Srinagar diary: Tourism Department holds Gurez Festival to woo tourists

The J&K Tourism Department organised a two-day Gurez Festival in Jammu and Kashmir’s Gurez sector near the Line of Control (LoC) to promote Gurez Valley as a tourist destination and highlight the heritage and culture of the area. During the festival, which began on Friday, a number of adventure activities like camping, trekking, angling, water sports and other recreational events were organised.

According to officials, the Gurez Valley has a lot to offer to tourists. There’s scope for adventure and sports tourism, they said. 

Govt sets up team to monitor attendance of employees

The J&K administration has constituted two teams of officers to monitor attendance of employees working in various departments of the Civil Secretariat in Jammu and Srinagar.

The teams will randomly check the attendance records of employees at all departments and report unauthorized absence to the General Administration Department (GAD) for appropriate disciplinary action. The teams were formed after the administration received complaints that some government employees were showing laxity in performing their duty and are taking unauthorized leaves, thus hampering the delivery of public service. Of late, the administration has tightened its grip on the government employees. 

Jab certificate, Covid negative report must for all tourists

The administration in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district has made it mandatory for tourists visiting the district to produce certificates of vaccination and Covid-19 negative report, not older than two days. The measure has been necessitated as people have been thronging picnic spots defying Covid guidelines, increasing the risk of a third wave. The administration has constituted joint teams of civil and police officials to ensure that Covid-19 SOPs are followed at tourist destinations. 

NIT-Srinagar to conduct village trips for students

The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar has launched a Visit to Village (V2V) program to expose students to rural areas so that they can identify problems faced by villagers and develop solutions. The V2V programme by Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship Development (IIED) centre of NIT Srinagar has been undertaken with an objective to find in-situ creative and innovative solutions by involving the local communities and local students and teachers. According of NIT officials, all students in general, and the masters-level students of TIED and MBA in particular, would get a hand on exposure to grass root innovations, traditional knowledge, traditional industries, rural technologies and capabilities available in these spaces. The broader objective of the V2V program is to offer technical and scientific solutions to the problems faced by people living in villages.

Fayaz Wani
 

Our correspondent in Jammu and Kashmir fayazwani123@gmail.com