Vibrant ‘Adivasi Mela’ opens amidst fanfare and gaiety

Bhubaneswar: The Adivasi Mela 2018 was inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday at the exhibition ground unit 3 here. The fortnight-long fair has various lifestyle products and foods of the tribal’s on display. The welcome address was delivered by ST and Sc development principal secretary Surendra Kumar. The event was also attended by Ramesh Chandra Majhi Minister of development, minorities and backward classes welfare department.

Addressing the inaugural function the Chief Minister said, “This year the fair has been shifted to a more spacious ground and it will definitely attract more crowd than the last year.”

The fair has a total of 145 stalls having products manufactured by the tribals on offer at decent rates. The whole fair is divided into six platforms- Adivasi village, Adivasi market, Adivasi artifacts, government stalls, Adivas food court and Adivasi dance ground.

On the inaugural day Dhemsha dance was performed by the Nabarangpur tribals and several tribal artist, writers and painters were feted on the occasion.

Raghunath Hemram, Govinda Chandra Majhi, Trilochan Barahi all were feted for Santali literature while Ratnakar Hemram was feted for age-old medicine. Kirtan Barahi was felicitated for Karma dance and Jabdu Barahi was feted for Ghoomura Dance.

The fair has amenities like ATM’s, clean water and CCTV’s for security. This year the organisers are expecting at least 15 lakh footfalls. (PNN)