After appointing former Indian cricket team captain Sourav Ganguly as the Brand Ambassador to promote state tourism, now the Tripura government will organise a series of ‘Tourism Promo Fest’ during which renowned artistes and celebrities, including singer Shreya Ghoshal, will perform.

Tripura Tourism Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said the fest would be organised in four different places in the state between December 3 and 14.

Ghoshal, the first Indian artiste named Equal Global Ambassador for audio streaming portal Spotify, and other renowned singers will perform at the fest in Agartala on December 14.

Ghoshal, who won a National Award for her work in the 2002 film ‘Devdas’, also has been featured five times in the Forbes list of the top 100 celebrities from the country.

The Minister said that Chief Minister Manik Saha would inaugurate the fest at ‘Narkel Kunja’ island on Dumboor Lake on December 3.

During the event, traditions, art and culture, lifestyle and heritage of the state’s 19 tribes would be displayed in the four places of four different districts, the Minister said, adding that musical concerts and various competitions would also be organised.

The places include Neermahal Water Palace in the Sepahijala district and the picturesque Jampui Hills in the North Tripura district.

Nearly 40 top tourist operators from across the country have been invited to take part in the festival, the Minister told the media.

Tripura Chief Minister earlier said that over 5.45 lakh tourists, including 75,000 foreigners, visited the state last year, while the state government has undertaken ambitious projects to develop all the tourism spots in the state.

CM Saha said the state government has obtained a loan of Rs 180 crore from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for developing the state’s tourism infrastructure.

He announced that like Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala, houseboat facilities would be developed on the picturesque Dambur Lake in Tripura.

“Earlier, those domestic and foreign tourists used to visit Sikkim, Darjeeling, Meghalaya, and other parts of the northeast region, now they are visiting Tripura where many beautiful tourist spots are still unexplored to the Indian and foreign tourists,” the Chief Minister had said.

“There are numerous hidden treasures in the state. Since the BJP formed the government (in 2018), we have been exploring these hidden spots. We have also introduced the Tripura Tourism Policy to attract investors, who are indeed showing interest,” Manik Saha said.

He mentioned that under the centrally sponsored ‘Swadesh Darshan’ scheme, infrastructure is being developed in many tourism spots including Chabimura, Sepahijala, Neer Mahal, Ujjayanta Palace, Dumbur Lake and adjoining hills and Unakoti.

The Chief Minister said that under the Centre’s Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) scheme, development work will be taken up in the Mata Tripura Sundari temple, founded in 1501 by Tripura’s erstwhile king Maharaja Dhanya Manikya.

The 523-year-old Tripura Sundari temple in Udaipur, 65 km south of Agartala, is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas in the country, and the third such shrine in eastern India after the Kali temple in Kolkata’s Kalighat, and the Kamakhya temple in Guwahati.

On October 15, 1949, Tripura came under the control of the Indian government after a merger agreement was signed between Maharani Kanchan Prabha Devi and the then-Indian Governor General.

The merger agreement made it mandatory for the Tripura government to continue sponsoring 14 temples in the state, including the Tripura Sundari Temple run by the princely rulers.