Curtains down on Chaiti

RAYAGADA:  The annual tribal festival Chaiti came to an end here on Saturday. During the five-day mega cultural extravaganza, hundreds of local, state-level and national level artistes performed their art forms which were witnessed by around 50,000 spectators.Collector Guha Poonam Tapas Kumar said Chaiti-2017 was not only a platform to energies and fuel spirit in the hearts of local artistes but it aims at promoting the rich cultural heritage of the district. 

According to Project Manager of District Supply and Marketing Society (ORMAS) A Uma Mahesh said Pallishree Mela organised on the sidelines of the festival has witnessed a business turnover of about `three crore. As many as 271 stalls were set up to sell the products of rural artisans from Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Nagpur, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha.

Souvenir of the festival ‘Chaitali’ was released by Haladhar Nag in presence of MP N Bhaskar Rao, Koraput MP Jhinna Hikaka, MLAs of the district, the Collector and writer Sushant Nayak. Among others, president of UAIL N Nagesh, chairman of Tribal Council Jagannth Nundruka, General Manager (HR) Rana Ranjan Mohanty, Biraja Sankar Mund of Vedanta and vice-president of L&T Sumit Ganguli were present.