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).
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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
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| Source: The Sambad |
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