Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 11: With the view of preservation and promotion of the Kashmir Art and Theatre sector, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry today held an interaction with artists and stakeholders of Kashmir.
The meeting was chaired by Nasir Hamid Khan who observed that local art was slowly dying and no serious effort was being made to promote the unique talents available in abundance.
The stakeholders highlighted the problems in the allotment of new assignments and work projects. The policies adopted by various Government agencies with regard to allotment of work contracts had adversely impacted the interests of the genuine artists and stakeholders, they said. They also expressed the concern at the fact that despite sufficient budgets and guidelines for providing work to registered artists, vested interests had deprived the genuine stakeholders of majority of the business.
The meet observed that having invested their lives and whatever capital they had towards the promotion of their respective arts, the artists were facing hard times. A majority of their capital was stuck in payments pending with the Doordarshan authorities since more than a decade. The artists said that they had been made scapegoats for the follies allegedly committed by the then officials.
The stakeholders said that the artists belonging to various streams of art and culture, who have been under tremendous stress, were totally ignored while announcing various relief and rehabilitation packages by the Governments.
The KCCI stressed that there was a need of urgently review the functioning and policies of the J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, Doordarshan, All India radio and other concerned Government departments like Tourism and Information with regard to the preservation and promotion of local talent and culture.
Saleem Beig, former director General Tourism, suggested that the Government needed to create a separate fund for providing fellowship under a structured scheme to the local artists registered under various categories and with various departments. Option of promoting the local talent through virtual mode and online programmes was also discussed.
Nasir Hamid Khan assured that concerns of the artists would be effectively raised with the concerned authorities and all support would be provided by the KCC&I to this fragile sector.
Sheikh Gowhar Ali, Manzoor Ahmad Pakhtoon from KCCI and others attended the interaction.
Follow our WhatsApp channel