Dangs: Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will inaugurate ‘Saputara Megh Malhar Parva 2024’ on July 29 at 9:00 am. The annual month-long festival will be celebrated in Saputara from July 29 to August 28, 2024.

Providing more details about the Monsoon Festival, the Tourism Minister stated that, as in previous years, the State Tourism Corporation is organizing this annual festival during the monsoon season. The program will begin with a parade in front of the Tourism Corporation’s Toran Hotel at the Boat House Ground, Saputara. The parade will feature local musical instruments from Dang, entertaining characters, various costumes, Dangi tribal dance, and other activities. After the parade, a cultural program will take place at a dome near Gan Saputara Lake, culminating in the Chief Minister flagging off the ‘Rain Run Marathon’ near Saputara Circle.

Additionally, various cultural programs will be organized at the main dome on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays, and in the evening at Saputara Main Circle and Governor’s Hill. These events aim to familiarize tourists with the local culture of Dang and provide more employment opportunities for local artists. A special Dahi-Handi program has also been planned for Janmashtami.

During the festival, tourists can enjoy around 18 major attractions in the vicinity, including Eco Tourism Camp Site-Mahal, Aquarium, Eco Point, Gandharvapur Artist Village, Gira Falls, Governor’s Hill, Hathgarh Fort, Madhmakhi Centre, Museums, Nageswara Mahadev Temple, Purna Sanctuary, Rose Garden, Saputara Lake, Saputara Tribal Museum, Step Garden, Sunrise Point, Sunset Point, and Vansada National Park. Additionally, there will be paper craft workshops, archery practice sessions, Worli arts, handicrafts, and photography exhibitions.

A total of 11.13 lakh tourists visited Saputara throughout the year, including approximately 8.16 lakh in 2022 and over 2.44 lakh during the Saputara Festival in 2023. The influx of tourists to the Saputara Festival has resulted in increased sources of income along with employment in Dang and its surrounding areas, thus improving the standard of living.

Saputara, known as the ‘Cherapunji’ of Gujarat, receives an average of 255 cm of monsoon rain annually, which supports the flourishing natural forest that attracts tourists from outside the state. Situated at an altitude of about 3,000 feet above sea level, Saputara has been developed by Gujarat Tourism as a planned hill station offering facilities like guesthouses, gardens, a swimming pool, a boat club, an auditorium, a ropeway, and a museum.