Rush of people onthe fair ground in Cuttack on Sunday. As many as 15 lakh people visited Bali yatra in the last three days. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, Nov. 24: Curtains came down on the weeklong Bali yatra festival here today with a footfall of about 10 lakh people.

Though the turnout of visitors was not encouraging on the first few days of the festival, it improved towards the end. About 15 lakh people visited the fair in the last three days.

Source said that this year’s total business at Bali yatra was estimated to be around Rs 60 crore. More than 1,300 kiosks had come up on the fair ground that had got off to a colourful start on November 17.

“Bali yatra has always been a unique experience for me, as it gives me scope to recollect by childhood memories. I always make it a point to come down to my home city to take part in the grand event,” said SidharthDas, 45, a software engineer based in Hyderabad.

An official said keeping in view the response of visitors, adequate measures would be taken to organise Bali yatra in a more planned manner next year.

Besides, the district administration is contemplating to facilitate and promote sale of Odia literature, children’s books and shortstories by organising a book fair at the Bali yatra in 2014.

“As there is no provision for sale of books at Bali yatra, we will initiate measures for organising a book fair for the first time next year,” said Cuttack collector Girish S.N.

Earlier, uncertainty had loomed large over the conduct of the Bali yatra owing to the devastation caused by cyclone Phailin and subsequent floods in various parts of the state in October. But, the district administration had agreed to host the Bali yatra this year in a bid to assist various artisans and self-help groups to sustain their livelihood. However, giant wheels and major joy rides were banned this year because of the unfit condition of the yatra ground following incessant rainfall.

“Bali yatra has provided us with a good source of income and we will come again and set up a kiosk here next year,” said Sridhar Raju, a brass artisan from Andhra Pradesh.

Children enjoy a joyride and (right) a father buys a flute for his child at Bali yatra on Sunday. Pictures by Badrika Nath Das

Another district administration official said special plans would be drawn to organise Bali yatra by utilising more space on the Mahanadi riverbank next year. The extra generation of space will facilitate in generation of more revenue as the number of kiosks is expected to go up at the fair next year.

The district administration has also decided to earmark prime location for the special pavilion dedicated for the sale of various products made by people with disabilities. Around 30 kiosks displaying various soft toys, handicrafts and other household articles made by physically-challenged people had come up at the special pavilion that had received good response from the visitors.

The Pallishree Mela, organised by Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society, has also been a crowd puller at this year’s Bali yatra.

The visitors had appreciated wide range handicrafts and other ethnic rural crafts from about 27 states of the country. The district administration has also come up with certain loopholes in the form of basic sanitation facilities for various traders coming from different parts of the state and country to Bali yatra.

“We will explore all possibilities to improve sanitation measures during the weeklong festival. Moreover, various utility toilets will be also be set up for the traders at different locations on the fair ground,” said the district collector.