Minister for Finance & Culture, Dr Haseeb Drabu on Sunday said that Government is adopting several innovative measures and policies to woo heritage tourism to the State.Chairing a meeting of the Kala Kendra Society at Kala Kendra Centre in Jammu, the Minster said that Ministry of Culture is all set to promote tourism in twin cities of Jammu and Srinagar through public private partnership.“It isn’t just a compulsion for the government only who will keep an eye on the wide expanse of heritage sites for promoting tourism. We all have to devise some innovative measures, so that the State will become the hub of heritage tourism,” he said. “A plan is to be devised so that more and more people over for exploiting heritage value of this State,” he said.The Minster said that the modalities are being worked out for creating a space for Jammu Museum, which would house the art works and other artifacts from Dogra Art Museum also. He also called for adopting innovative model to attract tourists to visit such sites.The meeting was attended by Secretary Culture, Dilshada Khan, Secretary Jammu Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and Languages, Dr Aziz Hajini, Director Archives, Archaeology and Museums, J&K, Muhammad Shafi Zahid, Director Local Bodies and Secretary, Kala Kendra Soujanya Sharma, Deputy Director, Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums, Peerzada Muhammad Ashraf, and other senior officials of the department.
Interacting with the officials, Dr Drabu said that the Centre should hold various events, which will go a long way to preserve the rich culture of the State and pass them on to the coming generations. He said that steps are being taken to restore the past glory of various heritage sites across the State. “Our aim is to bring back premium art loving crowd to various heritage sites of the State,” he said.The Kala Kendra Centre officials appraised the Minister about functioning of the centre and its annual work calendar. They said that various festivals including ‘Rutt-Rahre’- a traditional Festival of Dogra culture are organized to attract budding artists, students, civil society members, art enthusiasts among others.Meanwhile the Minister also took stock of the facilities being provided at the Centre for the artists and the promotion of art. He asked officials to provide multiple facilities and attractions for the visitors under one roof. Dr Drabu called for spreading awareness among the people about culturally rich heritage origin of the state and to attract youth for their active participation in preserving and promoting J&K’s distinct traditions.