Bhubaneswar: The three-day cultural festival “Second Odisha Parab” will return to Guwahati from January 30 to February 1, with the state government gearing up to showcase Odisha’s rich heritage, culture, cuisine, handicrafts, handloom products, and tourism potential in Assam.
A coordination meeting in this regard was held at the Tourism Department here, chaired by Director of Tourism Deepankar Mohapatra, who stressed the importance of seamless inter-departmental coordination to ensure the event’s smooth and successful conduct. The festival will be organised at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Guwahati.
Officials decided that 20 stalls from six departments, along with 10 dedicated food stalls, will be set up during the event. The Handloom and Textile Department and the Handicrafts Department will have six stalls each, while the Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society (ORMAS) and the Mission Shakti Department will set up three stalls each. In addition, Adisha will showcase Koraput coffee, highlighting Odisha’s unique agricultural produce.
To add vibrancy to the festival, the Odia Language, Literature, and Culture Department will organise cultural programmes reflecting the state’s traditional art forms. Discussions were also held on ways to promote Odisha’s heritage more widely in the North-Eastern states and attract industrial investment from outside the state.
Mohapatra emphasised the active involvement of members of the Odia community residing in the region to make the festival more engaging and memorable. Senior officials from various departments, including Tourism, Culture, Handloom and Handicrafts, Mission Shakti, ORMAS, Odisha Tourism Development Corporation, FICCI, and the Information and Public Relations Department, attended the meeting and shared details of their respective participation.
The Second Odisha Parab aims to strengthen cultural ties between Odisha and the North-East while projecting the state as a vibrant destination for tourism, culture, and investment.
Senior officials from the Odia Language, Literature, and Culture Department; ST & SC Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Department; Information and Public Relations Department; Mission Shakti Department; Handloom, Textile and Handicrafts Departments; ORMAS; Odisha Tourism Development Corporation; FICCI; and the Odisha Tourism Department attended the meeting and shared details about the stalls to be showcased by their respective departments.
