This Year’s Bali Yatra To Be Held In PPP Mode: Cuttack Admin

Cuttack: Odisha’s historic festival Bali Yatra is all set to kick start after over a gap of two years and for which the Cuttack district administration has decided to celebrate it in a bigger way this year.

The government sources said that it will organise the festival in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

“This year, we are planning to organize the Bali Yatra in collaboration with several private organizations through the tender process,” said District Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani.

“A detailed discussion will be held in this regard very soon. We have chalked out some new ideas and plans as the district administration needs extra money for the festival,” he added.

We cannot say this as privatization of the historic Bali Yatra, said Chayani.

The privatization initiative was taken in 2019 by deploying a private organization for some cultural events. However, no tender was floated for this.

This year, the district administration has planned to float tender for stall distribution, stage, license, security, and event management.

The week-long maritime trade fair will be observed from November 8 this year.

The state cultural department has provided a grant of Rs 20 lakh for various programs to be organized at the festival.