Gender Fest: An event that empowered only the Co

KOZHIKODE: It might have been conceptualised as an event meant to empower woman, but the Thantedam Gender Fest, it appears, has ended up only in the financial empowerment of a private event management company. A whopping amount, tad shy of `1 crore, was paid to an event management group for conducting the fest by the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation (KSWDC) in March, an RTI application has revealed. “Impresario Event Management India Ltd was entrusted with carrying out publicity works and event management of the Gender Fest events conducted at Swapnanagari, Kozhikode - the main venue. The total expenditure for the above work is `99,76,966,” stated the reply to a query about the money spent on the event. The application also revealed that the KSWDC had spent more than `10,000 on a single press conference at Hotel Paramount on March 10. Impresario had got a lot of flak for the poorly-conducted gender fest and the present revelation is bound to raise many an eyebrow. M K Raghavan, MP, had earlier questioned the highlighting of an actress as the face of the gender fest.Social activist K Ajitha had also hit out against the event claiming that it was just a gimmick and did nothing to bring women to the forefront. “The event was a wastage of money and it came from funds that should have been spent for the empowerment of marginalised women. There was no need to entrust the event to a management firm especially when there are a number of women organisations in Kozhikode. The firm did nothing to merit this huge amount,” she said.The 10-day gender fest was meant to be the precursor to the upcoming Thantedam Gender Park in the city. Sources within the Social Welfare Department said over `3 crore was spent on the event, which was nearly a third of the total budget allocated for the proposed Gender Park.Many officials of the department had opposed the fest being conducted in such a manner, they added.A top official was reportedly asked to relinquish his duties due to his stance against the conducting of the fest.