3-day fest in Puri to attract tourists

BHUBANESWAR: Srikhetra Youth Cultural Association of Puri will organise a three-day programme to promote the State’s culture and attract domestic and foreign tourists. Many popular singers and local artistes will perform in the programme which will be held from October 11 to October 13. After the Puri Beach festival, this will be another major festival to be organised in the holy town with an estimated cost of ` 14 lakh. The festival will be sponsored by Gopalpur Port Limited, SPS Group of Companies and Vizag Steel.  The main focus of the programme will be  to promote the State’s culture. For this, the association has organised several competitions among the kids and youths such as Odissi dance and song competitions and mini marathon.  Minister for Agriculture Pradeep Maharathi will inaugurate the programme. Additional Chief Secretary, Kerala, Prateep Mohanty and businessman Mahimananda Mishra will be the guests on the first day. There will be a host of cultural programmes such as Lavani Dance of Maharashtra and Creative Dance of West Bengal. Municipality Chairman Shantilata Pradhan, Puri Collector Fakirchand Satpathy and SP Amitendra Singha will be the guests on the second day. Popular playback singers Manas Pritam, Tapu Mishra and Subhashish will perform on the second day. The prizes will be given away on the day.  Minister for Tourism, Culture, Cooperation Prafulla Samal, Income Tax officer Manoranjan Panigrahi and MD of SPS Group of companies Bipin Bhoi will attend the programme on the third day. Udit Narayan and Debojit of “Indian Idol” fame have been invited to perform on the day. On the same day, five personalities from various spheres of life will be felicitated. They are Editor of “Sambad” Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik, Resident Editor of the “The New Indian Express” Srimoy Kar, “Samaj” Editor Gopal Chandra Mohapatra and “Times of India” Assistant Editor Sandip Mishra. All of them were selected by a committee set up by the association.