Cuttack: The nine-day long famous historic ‘Balijatra’ festival in Cuttack commences today. It behoves the splendid and dauntless journeys of Kalingan traders into south-east Asian nations.
The trade links between Odisha (Kalinga) and Bali in Indonesia lasted for a long period between 350 BC and 16th century AD. Odia Sadhabas (mariners) shipped a large number of essential commodities to Indonesia in the ancient times.
Elaborate police arrangements have been made in view of the large crowd expected for Balijatra. In addition to the over 50 platoons of police force and officers of the district more than 100 officers have been mobilized from outside for deployment.
A foolproof traffic arrangement has been put in place. Parking spaces have been identified. People will be required to park their vehicles in the parking spaces and either walk to the venue or use the shuttle service using e-rickshaws.
People from different places will be visiting Balijatra and more footfall is expected during the nine-day-long trade fair this year since the event was not held during the last two years due to the Corona pandemic. A total of eight parking places have been identified. Parking space will be provided on a first-come-first-serve basis.
For the safety and security of the visitors and crowd management 20 police aid posts have been put up by the Commissionerate Police. In addition to that, four Police Support Centres have been set up wherein various facilities will be available to visitors.
