The 18th Banki Mahotsav will begin on Thursday, the day of Kumar Purnima and laxmipuja, and conclude on October 9. This year, the organisers would open about 100 Government and nongovernmental stalls at the festival ground.
The festival would be inaugurated by Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera and Energy Minister Prafulla Mallick. On other evenings, Ministers Dr Damodar Rout, Pratap Jena, Nrusimha Sahoo, Prafulla Samal and Usha Devi have given their consent to grace the event.
The organisers have arranged to perform several cultural programmes every evening like folk dances of West Bengal, Sambalpuri, Dulduli of Balangir, Gotipua of Puri, Ghodanacha, Paika Akhada and melody.
Illustrious personalities of Banki would be felicitated on the occasion. In a Press briefing, Mahotsav Committee secretary Ganeswar Swain spoke on the details of the programmes.
The Mahotsav Committee’s president is Banki MlA Pravat Tripathy.