Kumrat goes without snow festival

Locals hit out at civic agency for its inaction

UPPER DIR:

The provincial government and culture and tourism department of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) failed to organize a snow festival in the scenic Kumrat valley in Dir Upper district over the past two years.

Local residents told The Express Tribune that Kumrat Development Authority (KDA) was established some time ago but it was not doing its work properly.

“Flash floods hit Kumrat hard but no step has been taken to rehabilitate the flood victims of Kumrat which is unfortunate,” they said, adding that this winter too KDA, or district government or the provincial government took no steps to organize a snow festival.

“In the past snow festival was organized to attract tourists to Kumrat and it was very effective in bringing thousands of people from all parts of Pakistan but for the past two years, the festival is not held for reasons unknown,” they remarked, adding that because of this there was an uneasiness among people associated with the tourism sector as thousands of jobs are attached to it in Kumrat alone.

A hotel owner Haji Rehmatullah said that in the past at the start of each winter, government organized a snow festival in Kumrat which was a very useful opportunity for locals as well as tourists but this year their hotels were empty.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2023.