Cuttack: As the holy month of Kartika ended with a colorful ritual of ‘Boita Bandana’ (worshipping of boats) this morning, the annual ‘Balijatra festival began on the banks of river Mahanadi here at Gadagadia ghat in the evening.

Odisha Health and Law minister Pratap Jena along with Culture minister Ashok Panda and Sports minister Chandra Sarathi Behera inaugurated the Balijatra festival in the presence of city mayor Meenakshi Behera.

The week-long famous fair will continue till November 10.

After getting the nod from east zone bench of National Green Tribunal for the second time this year, the local administration is staging the festival over an area of 30 acres on the river bank.

“We will ensure that the festival would in no way pollute or block the free-flow of river water”, said Cuttack Municipal Corporation, Commissioner, Bikash Mohapatra.

“Over one lakh revelers thronged the fair grounds on the inaugural day and we expect the festival would witness footfall of over three lakh revelers every day”, said the newly appointed DCP Traffic Srikrushna Sasmal.

Like every year, the twin fair grounds having over 300 makeshift stalls are showcasing ethnic household items ranging from wearing apparels to decorative stuffs.

The Commissionerate police have made elaborate arrangements to maintain law and order during the festival.

DCP City Akhileswar Singh said around 50 platoons (one platoon comprise 30 personnel) of armed police, including quick action team, anti-liquor squad, anti sabotage and anti terrorists squads will be deployed in and around the festival grounds..