Report by Basant Rath, Nabarangpur: The annual folk and tribal cultural festival of Nabarangpur district, Mondei, was inaugurated by Sports and Youth affairs minister Ramesh Chandra Majhi, at historic place Podagada, here on Wednesday. As per the rituals, a puja was performed at the temples in Podagada and the main torch was lit by the Minister.

Addressing the gathering, chief guest Minister Mr.Majhi said the unique festival was aimed at bringing to the fore tribal talents in the fields of art, and culture at the same time create awareness of different government sponsored programmes.

Among others, Zilla Parisad President, Motiram Nayak, MLAs of Nabarangpur, Umerkote, Municipality Chairman Prahalad Tripathy, NAC umerkote Chairman Prahalad Tripathy, ADM Suradev Sahu, were present and spoke on the occasion while Collector and DCC chairperson Ms.Yamini Sarangi, presided over the meeting.

Chief Guest Minister Mr.Majhi, and the other guests unveiled the Mondei posters, on the occasion. Dance troupes from Umerkote panchayat Samiti and NAC performed folk dances at the inaugural ceremony. The block level Mondei will be continue till 4th November.

Various teams and dance troupes will be selected from the block-level to perform at the district level celebrations, which will commence from 6 November and continue till 10 November.

Mondei is being organised by District Council of Culture, Nabarangpur since 2002, from the Podagada historic place by the then collector Dr.Aurobind Padhee, with an aim to stride the rich aspirations of its long neglected people and created opportunities through games and sports, exhibitions, folk music and group dance. Spotting hidden talents in the field of art, culture at the grass-root level as well as to promote the rich cultural heritage of this region.