The city police and the Cuttack district administration heaved a sigh of relief as the eight-day-long Baliyatra here came to an end incident-free on Thursday night. Traders from across the country gathered here for over a fortnight laughed all the way to banks as the fair registered an estimated Rs100 crore business transaction this year.
“The fair went off peacefully by and large without any major untoward incident,” said an extremely tired-looking city DCP Sanjiv Arora, who was overseeing the law and order of the volatile city throughout the puja season beginning from September during which the city also hosted an ODI cricket match here at the Barabati Stadium featuring Sri lankan team.
Similarly, the district administration also sighed with relief as the festival ended peacefully and on a happy note. “With the end of Baliyatra, the three-month-long festival season came to a conclusion bringing cheers to everybody,” said Additional District Magistrate Bibhuti Bhusan Das.
Sources said the district administration generated revenue of over Rs10 crore in terms of taxes and land rent from the Baliyatra this year. “Although there was plenty of scope to generate more revenue by packaging such a trade fare in a better way, the district administration has not been able to cash in on it,” rued a city businessman, adding that innovative entrepreneurial initiatives should be introduced to popularise the Baliyatra. Although the festival was officially closed on Thursday night with water and power supplies stopped, the traders during winding up their stalls also made brisk business on Friday. Many traders are also planning to stay here for some more days until their stocks exhausted.
Among the traders, who had come here with ethnic decorative and household items went back happily as their products were much in demand. Similarly, the food-stall owners and culinary vendors too had field days during the festival registering brisk business.