Bhubaneswar: Devotees will be encouraged to sail boats made of banana plant barks/stems during the 8th Dayanadi Boita Bandana Utsav at the Lingipur ghat of Daya river on the full moon day of Hindu month Kartika November 12.
The Kalinga Sanskruti and Aitiha Surakhya Manch, a cultural organisation that organises the boat sailing festival, will create awareness among the devotees to shun plastic and artificial thremocol boats on the occasion.
The outfit has decided to provide boats made of stems of banana plants to devotees free of cost. A decision to this effect was taken at a recent meeting of the outfit.
“We will urge the devotees not to burst firecrackers during the boat sailing festival. A devotional song programme will be organised at the Lingipur ghat of Daya river to mark the occasion. Our volunteers will undertake a cleanliness drive on the riverbank a day after the festival,” said a member of the cultural organisation.
This year, social activist Govind Pattnaik will be conferred with Dayanadi Samman during the boat sailing festival, he added.
Among others, Kalinga Sanskruti and Aitiha Surakhya Manch chairman Sangram Keshari Paikaray and outfit members Chittaranjan Mohanty, Rabindra Patra, Subas Sundaray, Rashmi Ranjan Srichandan, Bhakta Bhusan Barik, Bijay Samantaray, Naba Kishore Parida, Bibhuti Pradhan, Khirod Pradhan, Pramod Swain, Dinabandhu Swain and Sadasiva Jena were present at the meeting.