Hyderabad: Grape festival wraps up on sour note

Rajendranagar: Just six days after the doors were thrown open for the public, the grape festival (exhibition-cum-sale) at Grape Research Station at Rajendranagar was wrapped up in haste on February 24, for which the authorities cited that the grapeyard was bereft of fruit.

However, ruling out the narratives that organic fruits are being on sale at the grape exhibition, Dr.D.Vijaya, the Head of Grape Research Station Rajendranagar said, "Grapes grown at our station are not organic. We auctioned the grapes produced in our station after taking our observations. Fixing of prices too will be decided by the auctioneer. The station was opened for exhibition merely to increase awareness on different grape varieties and their uses. The Research Station is mandated purely for research activities and its extension so as to promote the research on grapes for the benefit of farmers in the state."

"Whatever grapes are being sold now after the closure of the event is not from Grape Research Station," she said, adding that the "The buyers are getting the fruits on their own risk. It was clearly mentioned on the board that the fruits are over at the station."

Almost two years after the event in 2020, the Sri Konda Laxman Telangana State Horticultural University yet again organised the grape festival that began from February 19. However, the gates were bolted down on Thursday and a caution board was flung over it declaring the closure of the event.

Visitors left flabbergasted watching the doors of the research station closed since Thursday. Suchitra, a visitor rued, "We came to know that the event was open for almost 10 days but the closed gates left us completely surprised. The authorities should at least inform their decision of pulling the curtain down beforehand."

However, few garden enthusiasts are welcoming the closure of the event citing that the event was full of misinformation, mismanagement and the discrepancies that visitors are not at all aware of. Srinivas Harkara, the Founder of the City of Terrace Gardens, CTG said, "First of all the fruits being raised in the grape station were not at all organic in nature as widely believed and the officials too affirmed it. The exorbitant rates that vary from Rs500 to 600 per kilogram grape that without a scope of haggling is more exploiting. The event became more private than the public in terms of maintenance that was in no way beneficial for the public."