Bhubaneswar, April 5: Odisha Festivals, an event that was announced last year by the then chief secretary and various government entities, is still stuck in its planning phase.

It was decided at the meeting last year that various cultural festivals and film screenings would be held in major cities of the country to promote the state's culture and tourism. However, the confusion between the departments seems to have caused the failure.

Last June, the state government had announced to host an international film festival. The then chief secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra had said that Odisha Festivals was to be hosted in metro cities outside the state. The event was slated for November-December 2014. Mohapatra had also directed the OFDC to prepare an archive of Odia films. However, none of the events were hosted in the scheduled time.

Funds have been allocated for the event in this year's budget. Last week, officials of departments of culture, information and public relations and the OFDC met their counterparts from the industries department and Idco to organise the event. However, most of the officials had different plans for the preparation.

"The event will help in branding the image of the state. The discussions have just begun. The tourism and culture department will provide all support to host the festival," said culture and tourism department secretary Arabinda Padhee.

Though the information and public relations department is said to be anchoring the festival, the officials of the same department seemed unaware of any progress. Secretary Madhusudan Padhi refused to comment on the preparation for the event. A senior official said he had no idea about any plan for the festival.

An OFDC official said they had written to the authorities to take part in the festival. However, they were yet to receive any response. "We would be glad to take part in the festival and ready the films to be screened at the event," said OFDC deputy general manager P.K. Mishra.

The OFDC official said the Ekamra Haat here would host a series of activities throughout the year as a run up to the festival. Plan was on to host curtain raiser shows in each month of the year. It had also been announced last year that the Odia people's associations would be invited to help host the event in cities outside the state.