Over 800 tourists attend Maharashtra grape festival in Pune says MTDC

Over 800 tourists from Gujarat and Rajasthan as well as cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Alibaug and Aurangabad in Maharashtra attended the Grape Festival organised recently in Pune district, an official said Saturday. Abhimanyu Kale, managing director of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), in a statement, called the well-attended festival in Golegaon (Lenyadri) in Junnar as an encouraging development for rural and agricultural tourism among youth and students.

The grape festival was organised between February 16-19 in association with resorts in Malshej Ghat and grape cultivators from Junnar taluka. The festival allowed tourists, especially those from urban areas, to visit grape gardens and see the process of wine-making, all for a nominal fee, Kale said.

"We are also planning to organise a pomegranate festival in Junnar. Similarly, a Mulberry festival is also on the cards," the MTDC MD said. He said festivals centring around bananas in Jalgaon, oranges in Vidarbha, pomegranate in Solapur's Sangola, jowar in Marathwada, hurda in Solapur, jaggery in Satara-Sangli and mangoes and cashews in Konkan are on the anvil.