Dark clouds over kite festival

Hyderabad: Hyderabad is will be missing a cheery atmosphere, competitive vibe, colourful kites in the sky, delicious food consisting of 78 varieties of ladoos, 77 varieties of halwa, 67 varieties of payasam and other local delicacies this year too as the state government is not holding the International Kite festival.

The kite festival or Uttarayan is one of the biggest festivals which helps as a major event to promote tourism. Following the Gujarat model where the festival began in 1989, the Telangana Government launched this festival in 2016 and it received good response both from domestic and international kite flyers.

As the festival could not be held during the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was expected that this year the Tourism department would hold the festival so that it would help give a boost to the tourism industry. The kite festival could have also attracted people from across the country and G20 countries.

Normally, arrangements for the kite festival in the states where it is held commence months ahead of January. But in Telangana, sources said though the State Tourism Development Corporation (TSTDC) had sent a proposal to the government about a month back but so far no decision had been conveyed to them and hence they had not made any arrangements for the festival at the Parade Grounds. In the past, the three-day festival from January 14 to 16 used to attract over eight lakh visitors.

A regular visitor of the festival K Siddharth said that the kite festival was one of the unique events he had ever visited. This is one event where everyone along with kids could go and enjoy witnessing giant kites flying in the sky and a variety of food items at the stalls set up there. It is disappointing that Hyderabadis would be missing this great event, he added.