Indore (Madhya Pradseh): The district administration is gearing up to make efforts to ensure that the traditional Gair taken out in the city on Rangpanchami, is included in United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) list of cultural heritage festivals next year. The administration will utilise this time to strive to fulfil the norms and guidelines of UNESCO including identifying homestay facilities on the Gair route and initiating an online booking facility for these homestays.
The festival of Rangapanchami will be celebrated this year on March 30 with the traditional Gairs being taken-out. Ahead of the Rangapanchami, collector Asheesh Singh briefed the media about the preparations being made for making a bid to get Gair included in the UNESCO list. He said that as per rules of UNESCO, only one festival of a country can be included in the cultural heritage festival list in two years.
Last year the Garba festival of Gujarat was included. Thus, the administration can pitch in for Gair the next year. However, before applying, we would have to comply with the norms and guidelines. We will try to fulfil those norms this year. We will identify houses located on the route of Gair whose owners are willing to give their consent for converting their spaces into homestays for tourists to enjoy the Gair procession from there. Also, we are trying to develop online booking facility for the homestays. These measures will help in enlisting Gair into the cultural heritage festival list of UNESCO, said the collector.
