IMPHAL, November 17: Parliamentary Secretary Tourism Prithiviraj launched the Manipur Sangai Festival, 2012’s web-site www.sangaifestival.gov.in this afternoon at his New Secretariat office.
The launched function was also attended by Tourism Commissioner Rajesh Kumar.
Later, the Parliamentary Secretary and the Tourism Commissioner held a press conference to formally announce the launch of the web-site.
Addressing media persons, the Parliamentary Secretary informed that this year’s edition will have a stall from Thailand; however when queried about other international stalls, he replied that the state government has sent out invites to some countries like Bangladesh, China, and some other neighbouring countries however there has been no official intimation or confirmation from the said countries.
He soon added that several states of India have already confirmed their participation in the festival.
The state police force is not properly equipped to handle serious situations like detecting explosives as there is not enough advanced equipment, he continued.
As part of a special security arrangement taken up, all stall owners and items entering the festival venue will also be manually checked at the entrance from morning, he said.
He also elaborated that four parking lots for visitors have been identified- at Wangkhei Keithel Ashangbi, Andro Parking, WAL Club, Angom Leikai and Raja Dumbra School.
Meanwhile, both Parliamentary Secretary and the Tourism Commissioner dodged questions from the media regarding the several unfinished tourism development projects in the state, with a simple reply of, “Lets not talk about the past”.
Commissioner Rajesh Kumar said the festival will have around 300 stalls and is being organized with a budget of Rs 2 crores- Rs 50 lakhs from the state Tourism department and the remaining Rs 1.50 crore from the State Plan.
A demo of the website was also showed during the press conference.
Explaining on the website, spokesperson of the developer “Cube ten” said that four live streaming windows of the main venue will be webcasted on the web-site during the entire 10 days of the festival.
The website will also provide related information on this year’s edition of the festival.
The press conference was also attended by Director Tourism Hrishikesh Modak and SP Imphal East Kamei Angam Romanus.