Traders’ associations oppose auction bid for stalls at Baliyatra

CUTTACK: Resentment is brewing among the vendors wishing to set up stalls at Baliyatra here, one of the biggest trade fair of the State scheduled to be held from November 8 to 14, as the administration started the process for allocation of plots through auction from Saturday. 

Different business organisations such as All Odisha Tent and Supplier Owners’ Association, Cuttack Cloth and Light Suppliers Association, Doli Mahasangha, Baliyatra Byabasai Sangha, Meena Bazar Mahasangha have united under the banner of Baliyatra Byabasai Milita Manch and are opposing the move of allocating plots through auction. 

The Manch which has submitted a petition to Cuttack Collector has also sent copies of the petition to Prime Minister, Chief Minister, 5T Secretary, local Puja committees and Cuttack Mahanagar Shanti Committee demanding abolition of the auction process and adopting of traditional process for plot allocation to vendors. 

In the petition, the Manch has stated that Baliyatra, the festival central to the city’s culture and tradition, is being observed for over 1,000 years in Cuttack, for which the State government has accorded state-level festival status to it.However, the move of the administration for allocating plots through auction has tarnished the tradition of the Baliyatra festival, the petition added. 

The Manch has alleged that auctioning of plots would not only usher in criminal activities but also deprive the small vendors, individuals who have been depending upon their hereditary profession like artisans of Shila-Chaki, Chhanchuni, Kula-Bainsia etc from participating in the trade fair. 

Generally, people visit Baliyatra to purchase commodities at low price. “However, allotment of plots through auction will facilitate mafia, big and affluent traders in availing plots and selling their product at high price while the small and individual traders will not able to participate in the annual trade fair which will be held after a gap of two years,” said Manoranjan Sahoo, convener of the Manch which has threatened to boycott Baliyatra.