CUTTACK: The historic Balijatra festival will be celebrated from November 24 to December 1 this year, informed Cuttack collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde on Wednesday.
Chairing a preparatory meeting, Shinde informed that the festival would this year be held in both the upper and lower Balijatra grounds. Priority will be given to public safety, he said.
The collector directed officials to ensure electrical safety, stage and infrastructure safety, fire safety, safety of swings and other joy rides. The departments concerned were instructed to take necessary steps to maintain law and order, traffic movement, vehicle parking, cleanliness, power supply, levelling of grounds, food security, supply of clean drinking water, construction of temporary toilets and installation of more CCTV cameras.
“A special traffic route map will be prepared for movement of vehicles and crowd control during Balijatra. Use of plastic and foam food containers and bags will be banned in and around the fair grounds. The traders will be asked to use sal leaves for serving food and cloth bags for other items,” said the collector.
He laid emphasis on proper parking arrangements, food quality and availability of emergency medical facilities at the fairgrounds. Shinde informed that a number of cultural programmes have been planned for the festival, besides organisation of competitions. “Decision has been taken to increase the parking space, and ensure proper lighting of the fairgrounds and its surrounding areas,” he added.
Among others, chief development officer-cum-executive officer (CDO-cum-EO) Prasant Kumar Nayak, ADMs Dibyalochan Mohanta, Kamaljit Das, Ipsita Priyadarshini Mishra, Athagarh sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Prahlad Narayan Sharma, Banki SDM Manaswani Das and officials of all line departments were present.