Cuttack, Nov. 14: The Centre's decision to demonetise currency notes of higher denomination played spoilsport as visitors and traders came to grips with its fallout on the first day of the weeklong Bali yatra fair here today.
The district administration has installed four ATM kiosks and a coin vending machine on the fair ground to help traders and visitors get notes of smaller denomination if they ran out of cash.
Sub-collector Raghuram Iyer told The Telegraph: "We have set up four ATM kiosks at different places on the fair ground keeping the cash crisis in view."
Earlier the administration had, like previous years, installed only one ATM kiosk.
Nearly 1.5 lakh visitors from across the state thronged the weeklong annual fair on its opening day here today. However, the arrangements will be put to the test once the number of visitors goes up from Wednesday onwards.
District officials anticipate turnouts of four to five lakh visitors a day from tomorrow, while it is expected to cross eight lakh by Saturday.
Iyer added: "We will assess the crisis and install more ATMs if the situation demands."
The Centre's ruling came as a minor inconvenience for the visitors during their visit to the fair as it limited their spending.
"We had brought Rs 2,000 in notes of smaller denomination, which we used to buy household articles, including spices, and some handicraft products. We will come again in a couple of days with more change," said homemaker Mamina Pradhan.
Subhas Chandra Sahoo, another visitor, said people usually visited the fair on the opening day to select the products while the real purchases were made later.
Traders, many of whom have come from outside the state to set up kiosks at the fair, expressed concern that the government's decision would have a negative impact on their businesses.
Zarin Shah, a trader from Gujarat, said: "We have spent a lot of money to set up kiosks at the fair, we are paying premium rent for space. But, we are worried that the government's decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes will adversely affect our business."
The Cuttack district administration hiked the rent at the fair this year, with traders paying Rs 24 per sqft compared to Rs 22 per sqft last year. The civic body is also charging Rs 2 per sqft per kiosk for waste management.
"The Indian government has extended the dates for accepting higher value notes. We have decided to take these notes from visitors as we have brought some small change that would be sufficient to transact over the next couple of days," said Mahendra Singh, a trader from Uttar Pradesh.
Over 1,400 kiosks have come up at Bali yatra this time, including 374 at the Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (Ormas) pavilion and 50 kiosks at another dedicated zone for the transgender and physically-challenged.
Wider entry and exit routes, pathways and use of carpets and adequate dustbins inside the designated Pallishree mela zone of the Ormas helped in better crowd and solid waste management.
The police have installed two centralised public address systems for better crowd management this year.
Deputy commissioner Sanjeev Arora said they had deployed over 50 platoons of police force for the smooth conduct of the fair.
"We have also installed CCTV cameras at over 30 strategic locations and set up two control rooms, 30 aid posts and special traffic arrangements for the fair," Arora said.
