Berhampur/Baripada, Jan. 14: The Makar Sankranti festival was celebrated with fervour across the state today, while special rituals were also performed at the Jagannath temple in Puri.
The sky remained dotted with colourful kites in Cuttack and Puri. At Gopalpur beach, Eco Retreat Festival, organised by the Berhampur Development Authority, started with the kite-flying event. Inspector general of police, southern range, Amitav Thakur and Ganjam district collector Prem Chandra Chowdhary inaugurated the festival.
Apart from the kite-flying event, special food kiosks called "Sankranti Special Cuisines" were set up. Visitors also enjoyed a cultural programme by famous band Vighnanz in the evening.
"The festival will continue for three months in four phases. In the first phase, there will be kite flying on January 14 and 15, then Swachh Gopalpur campaign will be launched on February 25 and 26, followed by a cycling event on March 5 and Gopalpur Art Mahotsav on March 11-13," said the secretary of Berhampur Development Authority Dipti Mahapatra. The festival aims to promote the proposed Eco Retreat hub to be set up at Gopalpur by the development authority, Mahapatra said.
Tribal communities in the northern districts of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundargarh marked the festival as well. They were seen wearing new clothes and dancing to drumbeats. The village men also observed the Akhand Shikar (mass hunting) ritual by going to the forests to hunt animals.
On the other hand, the Similipal Tiger Reserve authorities have stepped up vigil to prevent poaching during the occasion. Besides deploying additional manpower for patrolling in the core and buffer areas of the tiger reserve, the authorities have also launched awareness campaigns to dissuade the tribals from going on a hunt.
Similipal tiger reserve's deputy director Ajit Satpathy said some of the dehuris (tribal priests) had been engaged with the anti-poaching squads. The forest department has increased patrolling and combing since the last three days and the squads would be on high alert for another four days.
