Gopalpur-on-sea getting decked up for beach festival

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will inaugurate the Gopalpur beach festival on December 24. The main attraction of the inaugural evening of the five-day festival will be Odissi dance recital by Dona Ganguly, a disciple of great Odissi guru Kelucharan Mohapatra. She also happens to be the wife of former captain of Indian cricket team Sourav Ganguly.

According to chairperson of the organising committee of the beach festival, Gopalpur MLA Pradeep Panigrahy, noted bollywood playback singer Babul Supriyo will also perform with his troupe on the inaugural evening. Babul has several famous Odia songs to his credit. The beach festival is being held to promote the serene beach resort as a major tourist destination of Odisha. So, its timing has coincided with the winter vacation tourist season. This time the beach festival is being organised jointly by the Ganjam district Department of Culture, Department of Tourism, Gopalpur Notified Area Council (NAC), and Ganjam District Hoteliers’ Association (GDHA).

According to the organisers, around one lakh tourists are expected to attend the beach festival every evening. Arrangements to maintain law and order and smooth passage of traffic are being made keeping this in view. Cultural troupes from different parts of the country will also perform during the beach festival. But there will be ample scope for the local folk dance troupes to showcase their skills. To cater to the tourists, who would visit the beach festival, there will be a ‘Pallishree Mela’ showcasing handicrafts from different parts of the State, especially Ganjam district. The mela will be organised by the Orissa Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS).

There will be 120 stalls in the Pallishree Mela. Several Women Self-Help Groups will display their handcraft in the stalls. Around 19 government departments will also open stalls to create awareness regarding various developmental projects of the government.

Source: The Hindu

Source: The Sambad