11-day-long Adivasi Mela concludes

BHUBANESWAR: Curtains came down on the 11-day Adivasi Mela, the annual State-level tribal festival, at the Adivasi Exhibition Ground here on Sunday evening.  Attending the valedictory function as the chief guest, Governor M C Bhandare said the Adivasi Mela has been  promoting tribal culture and traditions over the years. He felicitated 10 personalities from various tribal groups in  fields like ethno-medicine, creative writing, performing arts and athletics.  Likewise, he declared the ITDA stalls from Rairangpur, Gunupur and Kuchinda as the winners for best stalls for their creation of Santhal, Lajia Saura and Kisan hutments respectively. Similarly, the Odisha Tribal Empowerment and Livelihood Project (OTELP) was given a special award for its work on the theme of the Mela ‘Better Livelihood, Happy Life’. Earlier, the Chief Minister paid a surprise visit to the Mela last week. He had interacted with the Bonda women, who came all the way from Malkangiri to sell their  ware. He also visited the tribal arts, painting and handicraft segments and appreciated the works of tribal artisans. Cultural shows, including tribal dances, were presented every evening.   The main attraction of this year’s mela was the Tribal Village, where as many as 29 tribal huts of different tribal groups were set up by tribals themselves. Almost all the makeshift tribal huts at the exhibition showcased skilled art and craft used in the daily life of the tribals. Each of the huts was daubed with red soil or cow dung or even with plant dyes and beautiful paintings were made on them. Each house had a section for cooking and separate pens for poultry and cattle were displayed in almost all the huts. Pumpkin and gourd shells were hung outside the huts. Like every year, the visitors purchased tribal and forest produces like turmeric, mustard, kandula, paluaa, jhuna, black gram, chilly powder, mung and broom sticks from the Tribal Haat and all other stalls of the Government and non-government undertakings. The exhibition recorded a business of over ` 1.5 crore this year.