The curtains have fallen on Cuttack’s iconic Bali Yatra, but the controversies refuse to die down. What began with uncertainty over the venue—ultimately resolved by a High Court intervention allowing the event at the Upper Bali Yatra ground—has snowballed into a major row over mismanagement and exclusion.
From disputes over stall allocation booklets to an accident at the doll exhibition and pandemonium during the finale with singer Shreya Ghoshal’s performance, the festival has left a bitter aftertaste. Now, the city’s intelligentsia is up in arms, condemning the district administration’s high-handedness, while Mayor Subhash Chandra Singh has gone a step further, publicly shredding an invitation letter to highlight what he calls a blatant disregard for the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).
Public dissatisfaction has been brewing since the event concluded, with residents voicing frustration over logistical lapses that marred the 800-year-old fair, known as Asia’s largest open-air bazaar. At the heart of the storm is the alleged sidelining of CMC in the festival’s organisation—a civic body that has historically played a pivotal role. In a fiery press conference at his official residence inside Barabati Fort, Mayor Subas Singh laid bare his grievances against the district collector’s “arbitrary” decisions.
Pointing to the crumpled invitation letter in his hand, the mayor dramatically tore it apart before journalists, declaring, “This is how they’ve torn apart our dignity.” He alleged that the names of elected representatives, including his own, were deliberately omitted from the document, effectively erasing CMC’s presence. “The district administration has completely ignored us, treating the municipal corporation as an outsider in our own city’s heritage event,” Singh fumed, revealing that he had raised similar concerns earlier but to no avail.
The mayor didn’t stop there. He accused organisers of humiliating the CMC commissioner by forcing him to sit “below the stage” during key events, a stark contrast to previous years when the commissioner, deputy mayor, and he shared the dais as equals. “In past editions, we were partners in celebrating Bali Yatra. This time, the district administration has sidelined us entirely, excluding CMC from every aspect of planning and execution,” Singh asserted.
Echoing the mayor’s sentiments, BJD corporator Bikash Ranjan Behera highlighted the systemic shift. “In earlier years, CMC handled everything from crowd management to sanitation and stall allotments. This year, the district administration has cut us out completely, leading to the chaos we all witnessed,” Behera said. He pointed to specific failures, including delays in distributing stall allocation booklets, the unfortunate mishap at the doll exhibition, and the disorganised finale night featuring Bollywood playback singer Shreya Ghoshal, which saw overcrowding and safety lapses.
The lack of coordination between the district administration and CMC has pushed the feud to a boiling point, with critics arguing that it undermines Cuttack’s administrative synergy at a time when the city needs unified efforts for urban development.
As the dust settles on Bali Yatra 2025, calls are growing for an inquiry into the mismanagement, with the mayor vowing to take the matter to higher authorities. For a festival meant to foster community spirit, this edition has instead exposed deep rifts, leaving residents questioning who truly stewards Cuttack’s cultural legacy.
