Berhampur: Gopalpur Beach Festival took off to a scintillating start at the famous seaside town of Gopalpur in Odisha’s Ganjam district on Saturday.
Odisha Assembly Speaker Bikram Keshari Arukh inaugurated the five-day beach festival in presence of Srikant Sahu, Minister of Labour and Employees State Insurance, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Berhampur MP and other dignitaries.
Addressing a huge gathering at the inaugural function, the speakers welcomed the initiatives of the district administration to stage the festival. “Gopalpur Beach Festival is the best platform to highlight our art, culture and tradition in the world and it would simultaneously help to sustain our art and artists,” they said.
Braving the winter chill, a large number of people, mainly from Berhampur and nearby areas, thronged Gopalpur to participate in the festival, held at the golden sandy beach amid tight security. At least 15 platoons of police force, 35 officers and 12 inspectors were deployed to prevent any untoward incident during the festival, while 32 closed circuit cameras were installed to keep a vigil on anti-social activities.
This year, as many as 276 stalls have been opened and members of 154 SHGs are showcasing their products in the Gopalpur Beach Festival.
The festival rolled out a variety of programmes including Odissi, folk dance and music by renowned artists and groups from Ganjam and across the state. The first day of the festival was mostly dominated by the local artists.
Special attraction of the festival was the performance of classical dance by Saat Joshi, vocal song by Ananya Sritam Nanda, comedy by Pragyan and Shankar and Sambalpuri folk song by Mantu Churia.
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