Over one lakh revellers thronged both the festival grounds near the majestic Barabati Fort here on Wednesday, the day the historic Bali Yatra festival was inaugurated on the occasion of Kartik Purnima.
Finance Minister Pradeep Amat, in the presence of Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra and Culture Minister Ashok Panda, inaugurated the festival. Many MPs and MlAs of Cuttack and neighbouring districts were present.
The week-long festival on the two grounds of the fair is likely witness a footfall of over 1.5 million people even as over 1,500 makeshift stalls would be showcasing a wide-range of products, including ethnic items brought by artisans from across the country.
With amusement swings and joyrides back in the festival and the district administration lining of a myriad of cultural programmes every evening, it is expected that the Bali Yatra crowd this year will cross all previous records.
The Song and Drama Division of the Government of India, the Culture Departments of Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have extended their cooperation to the Cuttack district administration along with the District Cultural Councils of Kalahandi, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Sundargarh, Boudh, Subarnapur, Bargarh, Angul and Puri for the cultural evenings.
Special pavilions of National Pallishree Mela, Gandhi Shilpa Bazaar and ORMAS-guided Self-Help Groups of women and differently-able people would be the star attractions of the festival as products of these groups sell like hotcakes during this festival.
looking at the massive arrangements and the expected crowd, the city police have made elaborate preparations to maintain law and order at the festival.
“Five watchtowers, 26 close-circuit camera and two police control rooms are to be manned by 43 platoons of police for crowd control,” said city DCP Sanjiv Arora. He said plainclothes police along with bomb and dog squads are deployed at the festival grounds.