Butterfly garden to come up in Kandhamal

Berhampur: Kandhamal district, would soon be home to thousands of butterflies if the district administration has its way. Plans are afoot to set up an open butterfly garden in Kandhamal.

As the butterflies are fond of flowers that produce lots of pollen and nectar it has been decided to plant butterfly-friendly plants in red, yellow and purple hues in the garden, said District Collector Krishan Kumar.

A 25-acre green space is being developed by the district authorities with support from the State Government. The mega forest nursery, which has come up in a big way at Mulagudari on the outskirts of Phulbani town and around 135 km from Berhampur City would house the garden, he said.

Planning and Coordination Minister AU Singhdeo who was here recently interacted with the nursery gardeners and workers and hoped that it would be a huge attraction among eco-tourism lovers.

Once the plants start blooming, one would not have to wait long till the butterflies come in droves, he said.

N R E G S - s u p p o r t e d schemes are being used to make the nursery a conducive place for all forest species, said the DFO of Kandhamal. Annually, seven lakh saplings would be produced providing regular jobs to at least 30 women. It would soon increase and be a major source of saplings on forest species, the DFO added.

Source: New IndianExpress

‘Gajapati Utsav’ inaugurated

The ‘Gajapati Utsav’ the three-day cultural festival of Gajapati district is continuing at the district headquarter town Paralakhemundi since January 08. 

It was inaugurated on Friday evening by the State Cabinet Minister Damodar Raut. The Berhampur MP, Siddhant Mohapatra, Mohana MLA Chakradhar Paika, chairman of the organising committee and Paralakhemundi MLA K.Narayan Rao, Zilla Parishad president, Y. Ramchandra Rao and Gajapati Collector, Prakash Dash were present during the inauguration ceremony.

This cultural festival is the culmination of similar cultural festivals of smaller scale organised at panchayat and block level in the district during past week.

Through these grass root level cultural festivals local talents were selected for this district level cultural festival. The organising committee of the festival had first chosen talents from the panchayat level competitions, who were again put to test at block level ceremony. The talents picked from the block level cultural festivals are to perform in the ‘Gajapati Utsav’.

Cultural troupes from other parts of the State and outside the State are also taking part in this cultural festival. The East Zone Cultural Centre, Kolkata has brought in cultural troupes from outside the State to perform in this festival.  

An exhibition of traditional handicraft has also been organised near the venue of the festival. The inaugural evening started with recitation of vedic chants by a young talent of Gajapati district, Anurag Nayak. There was Odissi recital by ‘Nrutya Dham’ of Bhubaneswar. Modern dance recitals by Nataraj Dance Troupe of Paralakhemundi and troupe from Ganjam district set the mood of the youths attending the show. Members of the ‘Utkal Hitaisini’ of Paralakhemundi performed Sambalpuri folk dance.

Tribal dance troupe from Nuagarh block of the district enthralled the audience with their performance on stage. The second evening of the cultural festival also comprised of an entertaining cocktail of traditional and modern song and dance performances by troupes of the district and outside.

Source: The Hindu