IMPHAL, Nov 29: At least 95 different stalls functioning inside the Manipur tourism remained closed for several hours today owing to the refusal of the Manipur tourism department to concede to their demand to extend the festival for few more days.
The stall owners today submitted a written statement to the tourism commissioner KK Chhetri, requesting him to extend the festival for two more days on the pretext of recouping days lost by the imposition of bandh during the past few days.
They apprised the commissioner that the bandh have incurred heavy losses to the owners who have invested thousands of rupees and the sales rate is not upto the expectation.
Sources further informed that the tourism department denied granting the request of the stall owners to further extend the festival on the pretext of security reason owing to the proposed visit of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Disappointed with the denial the stalls voluntarily down their doors and remained closed till late in the evening around 4 pm however left with no choice they had to open to the customer late in the evening.
The Manipur Sangai Festival which that started from November 21 will end tomorrow November 30.
