After some initial hiccups, an eight-day-long Baliyatra is all set to begin on the Mahanadi bank here in front of the Barabati Fort from Kartika Purnima on Friday. This year’s mega festival will have a two-day-long expansion as it is coinciding with an extended inaugural ceremony of World Cup Hockey to be played at Bhubaneswar.
“The World Cup inaugural ceremony will also be held at the Barabati Stadium here on November 28 with a night-long cultural programme in which music icon AR Rahman and several cine stars from Mumbai and South India will perform,” informed District Information and Public Relations Officer Ashok Sarangi, adding that the Baliyatra would end on December 2.
The Baliyatra trade fair will be held at two fair grounds covering an area of over 45 acres. The fair is expected to have over 1,300 stalls showcasing various ethnic and electronic goods along with food courts and Meenabazar. Besides, the revellers will also take pleasure of horse ride, camel ride and elephant ride on the adjacent dry riverbed.
The District Council of Culture has planned elaborate cultural evenings everyday at the Baishnab Pani Mandap located at the center of the festival ground.
Apart from local celebrated artists, music and dance troupes from Assam, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and New Delhi and from Indonesia and Bangladesh will take part in it.
The Baliyatra will also play host to national-level Pallishree Mela and Gandhi Shilpa Bazar in over 350 stalls to be organised by the Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (Ormas) in collaboration with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission. A wide array of traditional and ethnic crafts, textiles and wares from across the country will be on display here.
Police have made elaborate arrangements for security and safety of the revelers as well as of the traders and their properties.
Traffic, law and order in and around the festival grounds are also a major headache for the police and, accordingly, sources said, around 32 platoons of police and over a hundred police officers are to be deployed.