By Mir Mohsin Ali

RIYADH — The National Heritage and Cultural Festival Janadriya concluded this year with huge increase in the number of visitors compared to previous year. According to Saudi officials, the increase was due to the presence of India pavilion, which both the Saudis and expatriates visited in large numbers.

Indian Ambassador Ahmad Javed disclosed this statistics at the Indian Embassy auditorium during a get together of community and yoga volunteers, who served at the Indian Pavilion in Janadriya.

During the welcome address, he said, that the record of total number of visitors was last year’s number of 10 million, with the total number of visitors crossing 12 million this year, while the concluding day witnessed a huge number of visitors.

Javed said during the festival large number of ministers, high officials and diplomat visited the Indian pavilion. He thanked and appreciated the community and yoga volunteers who worked tirelessly to make the Indian pavilion a grand success.

The ambassador felicitated all and presented appreciation certificate to participating states Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. Representative of these states received the appreciation certificates.

Yoga volunteers Aumkar T.S, Aayush T.S, Niranjana Maneesh, Nirosha Maneesh, Kalyani Biju, Siyona Shaji, Anusree Praveen, Akash Pradeep, Snigdha Surendran, Ananya Surendran, Ajuwal Surendran, Aiswarya Ajeesh, Vaishnav Ajeesh, Divendu Pradeep, Dhanyendu Pradeep, Jishnu Ashokan, Durga Madhu, Gauri Madhu, Harinandana Hari, Shyam Krishna Ragunath, Keerthana Praveen, Arjun Santosh and coach Yogacharya Soumya were also presented with certificates.

Conselor Anil Nautiyal conduct the proceedings. Suhel Aijaz Khan, DCM, and a large number of Indians with their families were present.