Cuttack: The 10-day-long historic Bali Jatra in Odisha’s Cuttack city turned out to be the most crowded event with a footfall of around 85 lakh. The fair also registered record business, bringing cheers to the vendor, and entered the Guinness World Records with over 2,100 students from 22 schools making 22,000 paper boats in just 35 minutes.
A total of 200 stalls were put up at the fair, which saw some new attractions including water sports, innovative galleries, kite flying festival and performances by Bollywood singers. “While the sales figures hovered around Rs 135 crore in 2019, it touched Rs 150 crore this year. An estimated 85 lakh people visiting Bali Jatra, which is the highest till date,” Cuttack Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani told TOI.
The state-run Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS), which had set up 470 stalls including 30 food outlets at its national-level Pallishree Mela, registered sales of over Rs 21 crore by the end of the day. It had seen business worth Rs 15 crore from 350 stalls in 2019.
Women entrepreneurs of different self help groups and producer groups from 30 districts across Odisha, artisans from 18 other states like Assam, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Delhi, West Bengal, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Jharkhand participated in the Pallishree Mela.
The largest maritime trade fair of the state on Gadagadia Ghat on the Mahanadi riverbank concluded on Thursday after the state government extended it by a day at the civic body’s request. It was organised after a gap of two years by the district administration and Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).
