BHUBANESWAR: The Patha Utsav on Sunday turned into a mega platform for New Year celebration with more than 70,000 people flooding the entire stretch of Janpath from Master Canteen to Ram Mandir Square.
The citizen-centric event became a perfect place for citizens of the Capital City to greet one another on the very first day of 2017. Nirmala Kruti Bikash Trust with its creative rangoli welcoming the new year attracted maximum crowd.
The volunteers of Bakul Foundation reached out to children and adults to make New Year resolutions on working towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that 193 member countries of the UN have committed to in 2016.
Bakul with the support of UNICEF made 17 SDGs into train no 2030 (indicating the year by which the goals are to be met) and each SDG such as ‘End Poverty’ or ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’ was a bogey which also doubled up as a photo booth.
The first day of 2017 started with melodious songs and dance amid thousands of music lovers. SaReGaMaPa fame Odia girl Sniti Mishra’s songs mesmerised fans on stage one, followed by thrilling dance performances by Vignaz Group. Ama Kalakar group also performed on Odia and Bollywood songs.
One of the key attractions in the Patha Utsav was performance of a unique fusion dance formation of Kui community. Three forms of Kui dance like Dhangda Dhangdi, Jhagadi and Bhangda were performed on the main stage.
Banadurga dance troupe from Berhampur presented a traditional dance form depicting different forms of Goddess Durga with traditional dance steps and musical instruments.
Besides, there was a large number of social awareness activities and performances by different organisations during the 6th edition of Patha Utsav. City-based organisation Manab Adhyan Kendra (MAK) organised Habit of Personal Empowerment. During the previous two weeks of Patha Utsav, MAK organised ‘LOVE’ - an activity related to solving personal problems of people. On the day, social organisation PECUC celebrated World day of Peace with children.