The organisers of the cultural festival 'Virasat' claimed that the Governor Dr KK Paul was supposed to inaugurate the festival at 7.00 pm on Sunday evening but that he was out of station. On the other hand, the Raj Bhawan clarified that the Governor was present at the Raj Bhawan and not supposed to attend any such inaugural function. Now question is that why are the event organisers lyingIJ When The Pioneer reporter visited the venue to cover the inaugural function then she found no signs of any inaugural function till 7.30 pm. Also lack of coordination and communication gap was evident between organisers and volunteers.

Priyamvada Iyer, in charge of media community told, “The Governor was supposed to inaugurate the festival but due to some work he has to go out of town. So, we’ll probably ask Pt. Bhajan Sopori, the noted Santoor player who will be performing later, to light the inaugural lamp.

One of the organisers, lokesh Ohri confirmed that the event would be inaugurated by one of the artistes at about 7 PM but the venue was empty till 7.30 pm.

Virasat festival organised by REACH is the biggest cultural and heritage festival of Dehradun which happens once a year. Where on one hand the organizers claim to respect the heritage of Uttarakhand on the other they appear to be taking the public and media for a ride.   

The gurkha dance group which was to perform also were confused about timing. Jyotsna, choreographer of the group said, “Yes we were supposed to start at 6.30 pm but we aren’t even ready yet. I guess there is a communication gap.”

The brochures with full schedule were also not there. Sunil Chettri, one of the volunteers informed, that they did not have adequate numbers of brochures as they were still on the way. Some of the volunteers didn’t even know the schedule and the names of the groups and artistese who were to perform.

Not only this, but the timings in the brochure weren’t being met. There was no sign of inaugural process and proceedings till 7.30 pm. the volunteers were lighting up the arena with lamps hurriedly after knowing that it is being covered by media. Also the footfall was very low. Only a hundred people were present. In short, the initial period of the inaugural function of Virasat festival could be considered a confusing and mismanaged affair with limited public response.