Gotipua Dance Festival 2011

 Festival, Odisha, Orissa  No Responses »
Nov 172011
 
gotipua-dance-festival

The Gotipua Dance Festival 2011 has started in Rabindra Mandap of Bhubaneswar Orissa from Tuesday. Orissa tourism is the main organiger. Gotipuas of Konark Natya Mandap and Chandrasekhar Gotipua Kala Sansad from Brahmagiri mesmerised the spectators with their striking acrobatic and yogic postures on the inaugural evening.

The three-day festival being organised by Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre (GKCM-ORC) will feature eight troupes this year, said Ramahari Das, the Chief Executive of the centre. Addressing the gathering after inuagurating the festival Das said “through this annual festival, we intend to provide an exclusive platform and patronage to our marginalised Gotipua artistes.”

The festival will further feature interactive sessions among the Gotipua artistes and exponents on Wednesday and Thursday.

Gotipua dancers – the adolescent boys who dance dressed as girls – from Natyamber, Nakshyatra Gurukul, Laxmipriya Gotipua Nrutya Kendra, Dashabhuja Gotipua Nrutya Parishad, Orissa Dance Academy and Nilakantheswar Gotipua Gurukul will perform during the festival.

The groups have been selected by a 11-member committee of eminent artistes, art critics and government officials. “A detailed survey was undertaken by the committee about the Gotipua troupes existing in the State before finalising the eight troupes,” said Aruna Mohanty, eminent Odissi dancer and member of the committee.

The festival will provide a unique opportunity to document the dance form in its myriad moods, Aruna said, adding that the festival would be converted to an annual event considering its popularity.

 Posted by at 1:32 am  Tagged with:

OTDC announces Rath Yatra packages

 Festival, Odisha, Orissa  No Responses »
Jun 282011
 
Rath Yatra

Rath YatraThe Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has announced special tour packages for devotees from Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Berhampur to visit Puri on the occasion of Rath Yatra, to be celebrated on July 3.

Tourists from Bhubaneswar can depart at 5 am on July 3 and return the same evening. The package includes AC transport, rooftop sitting arrangement on buses with breakfast, vegetarian lunch and snacks with tea and coffee. The package costs Rs 2,555 per head and Rs 2,005 for children below the age of 10.

Tourists from other cities will have to start a day before on July 2. The package cost for Sambalpur, Rourkela and Berhampur tourists is Rs 4,220, Rs 4,810 and Rs 4,640 per head respectively, OTDC managing director Manoranjan Patnaik said.

For high-end tourists there is provision for staying and visiting other neighbouring tourist places in the two nights and three days package. Such tourists will have AC accommodation in Puri and provision for visiting places like Konark Sun temple, Chandrabhaga, Satapada, cruise on Chilika lake, sightseeing of Irrawaddy dolphins, sea-mouth and Rajhans island, before coming back to Bhubaneswar. For single occupancy one has to pay Rs 24,640 per head in this package, Rs 14,805 per head for double occupancy and Rs 12,255 per head for triple occupancy.

OTDC is planning, booking of the roof-top of the temple office for the next year Rath Yatra as most of the buildings along the Grand Road had been declared unsafe. Balasore, Jeypore and Koraput would also be included in the next year’s package besides introducing a 15-day heritage package for NROs.

 Posted by at 5:44 pm

Orissa Travel Mart, to be held in August-September 2010

 Odisha, Orissa, Tourism  No Responses »
May 102010
 

Orissa Tourism is planning to organize Orissa Travel Mart (OTM) this year. The proposed travel mart, according to Debi Prasad Mishra, Minister of Higher Education and Tourism, Government of Orissa, will be organised some time in August/September, this year.

Orissa Travel Mart will be an exclusive Orissa Tourism product, the Minister said when asked whether Orissa will be seeking partnership with other Eastern and North Eastern states of the country. However, Mishra informed that the state is working with West Bengal Tourism, Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Confederation of Indian Industry in promoting destinations of the region jointly.

 Posted by at 7:20 am  Tagged with:

Olive Ridley Turtles at Rushikulya Beach in Orissa

 Orissa  2 Responses »
Apr 062010
 

For the 2010 nesting season, the first arribada took place in the Gahirmatha beach in the second week of February. This beach is a protected area under the Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary.

The second took place in Rushikulya between March 15 and the early hours of March 21.
This year there was a third mass nesting which began on the evening of March 20. It is estimated that around one lakh turtles nested along the Rushikulya coast between March 15 and 21. The Orissa Forest Department had made arrangements to ensure the safety of the nests, protecting them from predators by fencing the beach along the forest side of the beach and placing forest guards to deter predators during the night. The eggs are expected to hatch by the end of April, flooding the beach with baby turtles that will make their way to the sea.
 Posted by at 1:05 pm  Tagged with: ,

Importance of Eram in Basudevpur, in the tourism map of India

 Odisha, Orissa, Tourism  5 Responses »
Feb 032010
 

Eram also known as the `second Jalianawala Bagh’ where the British forces killed 28 persons on September 28, 1942 was also very important as the only woman martyr of the freedom movement in Orissa, Pari Bewa, also fell to the British bullets there.

But today there is only one martyrs’ pillar at the ground standing as a mute reminder to the historic incident and there were no statues of the martyrs so far. Even there is no museum to showcase the great sacrifice through pictorial or any audio-visual depiction.

 

In Eram’s blood-soaked ground, not only 28 villagers died and 56 were injured, but another injured, lodged in Koraput jail also succumbed to his injuries later taking the toll to 29. Also the British police executed the gruesome murder the way they did it in Jalianawala Bagh by blocking all the three entry points of the ground.

 

People of nearby villages were assembled at Eram after they declared themselves as part of a `swadhina chakla’ or independent area under the leadership of freedom fighters Kamalaprasad Kar, Gouranga Chandra Mohanty, Aniruddha Mohanty and Shyamsundar Panigrahi.

 

People of Basudevpur have demanded that a proper memorial museum with depiction of the freedom struggle at Eram should be built as there is a nationwide demand to upgrade historical places with contribution to freedom struggle.

 

[googleMap name="Eram" description="This famous place of sacrifice located at 16 km away from Basudebpur of Bhadrak district. " width="400" height="400"]Basudebpur, Bhadrak [/googleMap]

 

 Posted by at 6:54 pm  Tagged with: ,

OTDC special tour package for Konark Festival 2009

 Festival, Orissa  4 Responses »
Nov 092009
 

Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has announced a special tour konark-dance-festivalpackage for those wish to visit the famous Konark Festival, which starts from December 1-5, 2009. Under the package, visitors will be taken from OTDC premises in Bhubaneswar/Puri every day to Konark by air-conditioned bus during the five-day long Festival.

SPECIAL PACKAGE PROGRAMME FROM 1ST TO 5th DECEMBER 2009
(Everyday)

02.30 PM : Departure OTDC premises for Konark.
04.00 PM : Arrival Konark. Sightseeing of Temple, Chandrabhaga
beach, Snacks at Panthanivas / Yatrinivas.
06.00 PM : Witness festival at Open Air Auditorium.
08.30 PM : Dinner at Panthanivas / Yatrinivas.
09.00 PM : Leave Konark.
10.30 PM : Arrival Bhubaneswar.

Package Cost for General Tourist : Rs.330/- per head
Package Cost for Students : Rs.310/- per head
Package Cost Without Food : Rs.235/- per head

The state tourism department has come out with two separate tour packages of three days and three nights package at a price of Rs 6,085 and five day and five night package at a price of Rs 9,545 for visitors wanting to visit the state during this tourist season.

EX-BHUBANESWAR (5 Nights 5 Days)

Day-01: Arrival Bhubaneswar.
Evening – proceed to Konark to witness the festival (06.00 to 08.00 P.M.). Night halt at Konark Yatrinivas.

Day-02: Full day free to observe temple and near by tourist interest places like Chandrabhaga beach, Ramchandi Temple. Evening – witness the festival (06.00 to 08.00 P.M.). Night halt at Konark Yatrinivas.

Day-03: Sight Seeing of Satapada (Chilika) Dolphin Tour. Evening witness the festival (06.00 to 08.00 P.M.).Night halt at Konark Yatrinivas.

Day-04: Sight Seeing of Bhubaneswar Temples – Lingaraj,Mukteswar, Rajarani, Khandagiri & Udayagiri Caves. Nandankanan Zoo & Dhauligiri – Buddhist Monastery Evening – witness the festival (06.00 to 08.00 P.M.). Night halt at Konark Yatrinivas.

Day-05: Sight Seeing of Raghurajpur (Artisan village), Puri Jagannath Temple.
Evening – witness the festival (06.00 to 08.00 P.M.).
Night halt at Panthanivas, Bhubaneswar.

PACKAGE COST RS. 9,545.00 Or 216 US$ Per head.

 Posted by at 10:46 am  Tagged with: ,

Aditya Birla Group to set up sea port at Chudamani in Bhadrak district

 Orissa  1 Response »
Oct 292009
 

Orissa government has signed an MoU with Aditya Birla Group for setting upabg of a 10 MTPA capacity sea port at an investment of Rs1500 crore.

The port to be established at Chudamani in Bhadrak district, would have 3 mtpa capacity in the phase-1, said ABG’s executive president Ravi Kastia. Continue reading »

 Posted by at 5:50 am  Tagged with: ,

State Wetland Management Authority, Orissa

 Orissa, Policy  No Responses »
Oct 242009
 

For sustainable management of all wetlands of Orissa, Orissa Government is Chilikaconstituting a State Wetland Management Authority, a first of its kind in the country.

Announcing this at the Management Planning Workshop of Chilika Lake here, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the State Government is also working in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Forests to establish an institute on management of wetlands and coastal ecosystem.

The Wetlands International South Asia (WISA) is currently formulating the management plan on Chilika with support from Chilika Development Authority (CDA).

The plan, now in draft stage, was laid for consultation before experts of national and international repute during the workshop.

After inaugurating the workshop, Naveen suggested some important issues to be incorporated in the plan. Check of silt flow into the lake through proper catchment treatment should be given utmost priority in the management plan.

It should be extended to Mahanadi basin as 90 percent of the silt flow into the lagoon is from Mahanadi river system.

The Chief Minister was of the view that both eco tourism and biodiversity conservation should be accorded priority in the management plan.

Destructive fishery practices and freeing the lagoon from prawn gheries need attention, he said.

 Posted by at 6:06 am  Tagged with: ,
“If we were to look over the whole world to find out the country most richly endowed with all the wealth, power and beauty which nature can bestow- in some parts a veritable paradise on Earth- I should point to India. If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choices gifts- I should point to India.”

- Max Muller
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