post news network, Bhubaneswar, July 22: By the end of this month a tourist visiting the Dhauli Stupa may get to know more about the history of the famous Stupa through light and sound shows, held at the complex, by buying a ticket for Rs 25. The date of the inaugural show has yet to be decided. However, as per sources, the show may begin either on July 25 or 26.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting convened at the circuit house, here, Wednesday. The state tourism minister Ashok Chandra Panda, tourism secretary Arabinda Padhee, tourism director Anil Kumar Samal, Khurda collector and chairman of Dhauli Development Committee (DDC) Niranjan Sahoo and DDC secretary S S Rath, were among those present in the meeting.
Speaking to the reporters, the tourism minister said, “We are delighted by the move to begin the light and sound shows at the famous Stupa. We hope this will attract a large number of tourists to the historic site at the outskirts of the city.”
According to the officials, two shows would be held every day, except on Mondays. General public will have to buy a ticket worth Rs25 (for one person) to see the show; students can get the same ticket at a price of Rs10. The shows will be available in English, Hindi and Oriya. An amount of Rs4.6cr was spent on the project that received assistance of both the Central and the state governments. Arabinda Padhee said that publicity materials would be made available to tell the public about the shows and to popularise the project.
ITDC, which has executed the project has deployed 3D mapping, among other modern techniques, to make the shows more vibrant. The videos that would be used during the show have renowned actors telling the audience the story of Ashoka – how he chose the path of peace after the Kalinga war. Actors like Om Puri, Kabir Bedi and Bijay Mohanty will appear in these videos.
