Chief minister Nitish Kumar prays to goddess Ugratara at Tara Sthan Shakti temple in Mahishi block in December last year. Telegraph picture

Seminars and musical performances would be on the cards at a first-time cultural festival hosted by a Tantric temple in Saharsa this year.

The tourism department will organise the two-day Ugratara Cultural Festival at Tara Sthan Shakti temple in Mahishi block, 220km east of Patna, from October 17. The district administration has already received Rs 14 lakh from the state government to organise the fest.

“The festival would be inaugurated by chief minister Nitish Kumar,” tourism minister Sunil Kumar “Pintu” told The Telegraph on Friday. “The residents of the area want us to invite bhajan singer Anup Jalota and folk artiste Sharda Sinha to perform during the festival. We also want to request several singers from the state to perform during the cultural evenings.”

Besides music, a seminar on Sanskrit scholar Mandan Mishra would be organised.

Saharsa district magistrate Misbah Bari told The Telegraph that the authorities have already begun preparations for the festival.

“We are working on the beautification of the temple by decorating it with various artistic objects like Madhubani paintings. We shall start putting up fences, tents and sitting arrangements in a couple of days,” he said, adding that there would also be stalls on local economy, agriculture, industry and health.

The temple is located around 16km from the Saharsa railway station and is close to the Nepal border. It forms an equilateral triangle with Katyayani temple near Dharamhara Ghat and Chandi temple at Biratpur, both in the neighbouring country. Tantric devotees throng the temple during the Navaratra in October.

In 2007-08, the tourism department had planned to develop tourism potential at the temple and sanctioned Rs 1.86 crore for the project. But there was not much development. Chief minister Nitish Kumar visited the temple on December 12 last year. Since then, the development project has picked pace.

Social activist Amit Anand said: “The festival would be a source of rejuvenation not only for Saharsa but the whole Mithilanchal region.”