Culture of delays: Silk Route Festival’s bills in Hunza-Nagar remain unpaid after 3 months

 Sharafat Ali Mir

Hunza, January 3: Three months have passed since the Silk Route Festival was held in Gilgit and Hunza-Nagar. The concluding session was attended by Federal Minister Birjees Tahir, who had said that all future cultural festivals will be taken care of by the federal government.

However, despite of the lapse of three months the bills in Hunza-Nagar remain unpaid. There are reports that bills in Gilgit district have already been paid to the NGOs and other organizers.

Representatives of the Wakhi Tajik Cultural Association (WTCA) said that they were facing difficulties in paying bills to transporters, shopkeepers and others who had spent their resources to make the festival a successful event.

It is pertinent to note that the mega cultural festival had been attended by a large number of ambassadors and diplomatic staff and the event was being presented as a major success by the culture and tourism department.