Present President of
Pune Festival :--
Shri. Suresh Kalmadi
It is heartening to know that The Times Group is publishing an excellent coffee table book - Glorious Years Of Pune Festival - depicting the 37-year- long journey of the Pune Festival, a confluence of instrumental and vocal music, dance, drama, art, sports and culture.
It will help in conveying to people a splendid history of the festival. As President of the Pune Festival, I thank all those who have contributed to realise this initiative. It is easy to start a festival but difficult to run it continuously. I must mention that this grand festival has achieved success only because of the love of Puneites. In 1989, as chairman of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), I started the festival in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's Maharashtra in Pune where Lokamanya Tilak started the public Ganesha festival. Spreading Pune's fame the world over by creating a platform for local cultural talent and attracting foreign tourists was the motto. The festival is jointly organised by the Pune Festival Committee, People of Pune, MTDC and the Department of Tourism, Government of India. Puneites responded to it wholeheartedly and today, the festival has become a celebration by people, which, I think, is its uniqueness.