A day after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik suggested for a direct flight from Bhubaneswar to either Jakarta or Bali in Indonesia, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday proposed to declare Cuttack and Bali as ‘sister cities’ in the backdrop of the rich historic links between Odisha and Indonesia.
Pradhan made the suggestion while participating in the ongoing three-day Kalinga-Indonesia Dialogue at the Ravenshaw University here, stating that the Millennium City Cuttack has played a central role in establishing cultural ties with Indonesia.
“To enrich the bond and ensure development of Cuttack, steps should be taken to declare Cuttack and Bali as sister cities,” he said, assuring that he would take up this issue with Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Tracing the trade and cultural links between ancient Kalinga and the erstwhile independent archipelagos of Bali, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and others, Pradhan said the people of Cuttack still remember the valiant ventures of those seafaring traders by observing Boita Bandan and holding Baliyatra every year on the day of Kartik Purnima on the banks of the Mahanadi here.
The Union Minister further suggested that the same rituals and festivals could also be organised in Bali to strengthen the ties between the two cities, in which the youths of both the cities could be roped in to play vital roles.
Ruing over the fact that very less has been explored about the 2000-year-old foreign trade of the erstwhile Kalinga with that of other places across the globe through sea routes using non-mechanised boats, Pradhan urged the International Studies Department of the Ravenshaw University to scan the present socio-economic-cultural changes of those countries against the backdrop of their ancient links with Kalinga.