Shandur Festival 2025 Information Still Concealed — Case Underway at RTI Commission

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Musarrat Ullah Jan – Kikxnow digital content producer

Peshawar: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cultural and Tourism Authority has not yet released the full information about Shandur Festival 2025. A formal application was submitted under the Right to Information (RTI) Act on June 30, 2025, but no information is available yet. The issue is now being considered at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Commission, complaint number 12792.

The RTI application particularly asked for the following information for the 2025 festival:

Dates, venue, and key arrangements of the festival.

Total budgetary amount sanctioned and breakdown of expenses (stage arrangement, arts programs, security, accommodation, hospitality, publicity).

Names of departmental participants, sponsors, and private parties.

Number of local and international players/guests, and the list of cultural and sports activities conducted.

Security arrangements and other amenities such as transport, sanitation, and medical assistance.

According to the RTI law, the department should issue the requested information within 14 days, but the DG Cultural and Tourism Authority did not reply within the timeframe. This tardiness is raising serious issues of transparency, particularly since Shandur Festival is one of the biggest cultural and tourism festivals in the province, drawing millions of rupees annually.

Sources have come forward to say that the 2024 Shandur Festival was cancelled but for many of last year's arrangements and bought materials, this year's festival made use of them. This makes disclosure of budget and expenditure data even more vital since it would set out how much new spending took place and how resources for last year were spent.

#ShandurFestival2025 #RightToKnow #TransparencyMatters #PublicMoney #RTIinAction #KPtourism #AccountabilityNow #FestivalFunds #WhereIsTheMoney #ShandurPolo #RTIComplaint #SportsAndCulture #PublicInterest

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