Malkangiri, 25/10/25: The Maliwant Festival-2025 will be held this year at the local DNK playground for five days from December 14 to 18. Today in the local district council conference room, a meeting was held by the district culture council to prepare for the Malyavant festival. The meeting was presided over by District Collector and District Culture Council Chairman Somesh Kumar Upadhyay, District Council Chairman, Samari Tangul, Vice Chairman, Vil Pawan Baidya, Security Officer Vinod Patil H, Bank Khand Officer Sai Kiran, Additional District Collector Umm Somnath Pradhan, Additional District Collector Rajsav, Vedabar Pradhan, Deputy District Collector Ashni AL, MP Representative Sanjay Sarkar, Malkangiri MLA representative Nihar Ray and Chittagong MLA representative Govind Pan were present. The District Governor has emphasized to celebrate this festival by maintaining the traditional folk art and folk dance, traditional tribal language and cultural traditions.
The District Collector sought everyone’s cooperation to organize the festival with dignity and peace. It has been decided here to celebrate the block level festival on December 2, 3 and 4. On November 30, Kalas water will be collected from the holy places of seven blocks and gathered at the Bhairavi temple in the district headquarters and a procession will be made towards the Jagannath temple. Other districts will also be invited for the sailing competition this year. People who have achieved success in various fields will be felicitated at the Malyavant festival. Like the previous years, this year too a two-day folk dance competition will be held at Kult Bhawan. Like previous years, mini marathon, boat ride and road festival will be organised. District Culture Officer Santhras Narayan Panda delivered the welcome speech and vote of thanks. District Information and Public Relation Officer, Pramila Majhi, PA ITDA, Haldhar Shabar, Finance Manager Manas Mishra, among others, all block chairpersons, district council members, BIDs, Tahsildars and intellectuals were present.