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Chandipur festival attracts tourists
by Sarada Lahangir

          Chandipur: Tourists visiting Orissa had a glimpse of the folk dances popular in Punjab, Rajasthan and Bihar here at a three-day Chandipur beach festival held to boost tourism in the State. Chandipur, also known as Chandipur-on-Sea, is a small sea resort located 16 kilometers (kms) from Balasore. It was special experience for a large number of tourists to witness various artists from Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan and Bihar sharing one platform. "The Chandipur beach and the Festival were good due to the fact that there are not many occasions when we get to see regional festivals at one place. We have seen Odissi dance and heard songs," said Kamalendu Chowdhury, a tourist from Kolkata. For the artists coming from different regions, it was a good motivation and joy to stage their show on the Chandipur beach. Performances like Kathak, Dandia, Bhangra and Bhojpuri dances and song-dramas won everyone's heart. "We are enjoying and the people here are very good. The stage is also very good and we enjoyed performing here," said Laxmi Mishra, an artist. Orissa's Chandipur has not been a popular tourist spot in the past. But many believe that with the successful organisation of festivals like this, which concluded this Sunday, the place is bound to fascinate many more tourists to this sea resort in future. "When we started the Chandipur Festival, the tourist inflow was very low. Those tourists would not find any major attraction to come here from their hotels. Gradually, we started lighting the beach and made embankment of stones. The hotels had at the time virtually closed down due to less inflow of tourists. Now the situation has changed. You have to book a room in advance or else you do not get one," said Jiwan Pradeep Das, Chairman Beach Festival Committee. Balasore (also known as Baleswar or Baleshwar), the administrative headquarters of Balasore District, was best known for Chandipur, as the place where India developed different missiles such as Nag and Agni. Now, Balasore has become a major tourist attraction, historical monuments, including temples. One could see hill ranges on the horizon. Orissa has a coastline of about 481 kilometers (kms) and Balasore has a coastline of 81 kms among which Chandipur, Dogra and Dhamra have some fine stretches of beaches. The Chandipur beach is unique since the water recedes from one kilometer to four kilometers during the ebb and returns at the time of high-tide.
- January 9, 2007

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