BHUBANESWAR : Despite two years having passed since the state government prohibited obscenity in jatra shows and Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan’s announcement five months back to bring in new rules to stop vulgar item dances, jatra organisers continue with the objectionable performances to draw crowds and mint money.
On Sunday, a group clash ensued between two groups of people over an alleged obscene performance by dancer Nisha Maharana at Kendrapara, leaving two critically injured.
The Odia Language, Literature and Culture department has since 2023 banned vulgar and objectionable performances during jatra and melody shows but such incidents are still reported from different parts of the state.
Secretary of Odisha Jatra Mahasangh, Umakanta Mishra said in only a few cases, police complaints have been filed against the organiser and the dancer under section 296 of the BNS (obscene acts and songs). “This is because the state government has not implemented its directive on such vulgarity in true letter and spirit. It has only remained an announcement till date,” he said adding, the only step the department had taken then was asking all district collectors and SPs to take exemplary steps to curb obscenity in such shows.
For staging a jatra show, an organiser has to secure permission from several authorities including police, fire services, labour office, tehsildar, the local discom and finally, the sub-collector. However, in none of the application forms for permission the organisers or troupes are required to submit in writing to the police or local administration that they will not stage any vulgar performances or item dances. Besides, the government has not yet come out with SOPs or any guidelines that prohibit vulgarity in jatra shows.
Sources said some of the leading jatra artistes charge anywhere between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 45 lakh per year to stage shows for any particular troupe. Each jatra troupe charges around Rs 3 lakh to Rs 3.3 lakh for staging a show per night.
“The cost of staging a show has increased and remuneration of artistes has also gone up. Since there is a lot of money involved, organisers resort to adding item dances to the shows which draws a lot of crowd,” said Pradeep Mohanty, a troupe owner. Popular item dancers charge anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 60,000 per show. Currently, there are more than 35 jatra troupes in the state of which 20 are counted as A-class.
Law minister Harichandan had in November last year announced that the state government would issue guidelines to stop vulgarity in jatra shows. However, no steps have so far been initiated by the Law department in this direction.
Recently, MLA Babu Singh constituted a ‘thenga bahini’ team with 100 people as its members to keep an eye on obscenity in jatra shows at the Khandagiri Mela.