PARADIP: The 20th edition of the National Theatre Festival, ‘Canfest-2023’ was inaugurated at Jayadev Sadan here on Sunday amid voices of resentment protesting levy of ticket fees for watching the plays.
On the inaugural day, a Hindi play ‘Bhagavajjukam’ was staged by Nipa Rang Mandali of Lucknow.
However, residents of the city felt disappointed that they would not be able to watch the performances for free this time. The organisers have fixed an entry fee of `66 per day and `495 for the entire duration of the festival.
Locals said despite funds being allocated by Ministry of Culture, state Culture department, Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Kolkata, IOCL, IFFCO, JSW and an English daily, they are being asked to pay for the ticket prices.
Sanjukta Behera, a theatre enthusiast said she had hoped to enjoy the inaugural day of the festival free of cost along with eight members of her family but had to return when she learnt that an entry fee has been fixed for the shows.
The festival was inaugurated by the chairman of Paradip Port Authority PL Handia in presence of DIG, Indian Coast Guard YK Singh, executive director IOCL Paradip Refinery Mukesh Mohan, unit head of IFFCO KJ Patel, deputy chairman of PPA Asish Kumar Bose and eminent theatre director Satyabrat Rout.
This year, the 10-day festival has been dedicated to Manoj Kumar Pradhan, the founder of Canmass, the leading cultural organisation of the port city.