Paradip: With just 10 days to go for Kalinga Baliyatra festival, the district administration, which has been organising the festival, is a little bit more cautious this year because of MLA Damodar Rout.
The sitting four MLAs and MP, irrespective of their party affiliations, are the constant members of Baliyatra Festival Committee. And Dama had actively been taking part in organising the festival, starting from guest selection to artiste selection for the past 26 years.
This year the situation is altogether different, despite Dama still being in the committee.
The organisers are in a fix this year as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is attending the festival as the chief guest for they can neither ask Dama for his suggestion nor ignore him.
After expulsion from the BJD, Dama has been relegated to a mere general member of the committee. The administration is also treating him like any other member. Instead of taking his suggestions, the administration is just sending letters to him informing about the progress of the preparations.
His close followers are in the festival committee but they are also not taking any suggestions from Dama.
Because of Dama being expelled from the BJD, the preparatory meeting for the festival got delayed for a month. The district administration is pulling out all stops to hold the festival in an organised manner.
Earlier, as a particular event organiser had been given preference, despite spending a whopping amount, the festival’s standard used to be not up to satisfaction, it was alleged.
This year the administration is finalising everything through tenders. Similarly, it had been common in past years that leaders and guests were averse to attend the weeklong festival, only because of Dama’s criticism.
This year, while guests are going to attend the festival, the opening and closing evenings are earmarked for political leaders.
Dama also seems to be distancing himself from the festival matter. It was clearly evident at Baliyatra preparatory meeting where he, in a departure from previous years, spoke only for five minutes. His close aides have in the meantime become his foes.
The evening when he declared the name of his new party also saw him with only two to three followers.
The observers are eagerly looking forward to see what would be the outcome of the inaugural evening as Dama is to share the stage with the CM. They are also waiting to see if Dama is given a chance to speak from the dais.
Meanwhile, 40 out of 200 government stalls were booked by Sunday. The price for a stall for seven days is Rs 5000 and for the remaining open space, Re 1 per square meter has been fixed.
PNN