Adivasi Mela from Jan 26; products to be available online too

Bhubaneswar: The annual Adivasi Mela will be held from January 26 to February 9 at the Adivasi Exhibition Ground, Unit-I here. For the very first time, products of the exhibition will also be available on online platform in view of the COVID-19 situation.

Social Media Plan (SMP) for the exhibition, which will be held from 11 AM till 7 PM each day, was today launched by Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra at the Lok Seva Bhawan here. ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Department has come up with hybrid model for the exhibition.

“Adivasi Mela is widely popular within and outside the state. This hybrid model will further widen its popularity by extending it to the persons who are unable to visit it physically. The virtual mode of the mela will have a marketing platform through which interested people can purchase the tribal products,” the Chief Secretary said.

He advised the department to develop a permanent digital marketing platform so that people from different parts of the globe can buy the products throughout the year.

Department’s Principal Secretary Ranjana Chopra said cultural programmes will be available on virtual mode. One can also have a virtual visit to Adivasi Museum through the Mela platform, she said.

All Covid-19 protocols would be followed scrupulously at the exhibition. Online registration facility would be made available from January 23 through the website of the Adivasi Mela-2021 for convenience of the intending visitors. Interested people may avail this facility and register online for their smooth entry into the mela ground, she added.

However, she clarified that the online registration for visiting the mela is only for the sake of convenience but not mandatory.