Cuttack, Oct 26: The historic Baliyatra will not be organized this year as well, in view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic situation, Cuttack Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani said.

Baliyatra cannot be organised as the seven-day long festival attracts lakhs of people every year.

The owners of small businesses, cottage industries, handicrafts traders, medium-scale businessmen, Mission Shakti, and Self-help Groups (SHG) have expressed their disappointment yet again this year.

Baliyatra, the festival central to the Millennium City’s culture, is being observed for over 1,000 years in Odisha simultaneously with Boita Bandana Utsav on the full moon day in the holy month of Kartik to commemorate the day when Sadhabas (mariners) would set sail to the distant island of Bali, for trade and cultural expansion.

In Cuttack, the Baliyatra festival is celebrated as a grand open-air event on the banks of river Mahanadi adjacent to the Barabati fort for more than a week.