Raja is a three day festival celebrated in Odisha celebrating menstruating women. In one of it’s kind, Raja marks the bleeding of Mother Earth and continues for three days. The fourth day is called Vasudha Snana. Unmarried girls dress up, make delicious dishes, play on swings and celebrate it by eating pan. But like all other festivals, there are restrictions on the celebration of Raja too put in by the government of Odisha owing to the pandemic.
To compensate for the same, The Odisha Tourism Development Corporation flagged off a special initiative called ‘Pitha on Wheels.’
One of the main attractions of Raja festival is the making of various kinds of cakes, popularly called Pitha in the local lingo. This initiative will sell ‘pithas’ in a subsidized price in and around Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur. The panthanivas’s also have a special counter selling the same.
The OTDC chairman, Shrimayi Mishra inaugurated the initiative and started off her speech by conveying the Chief Minister’s wishes to the womenfolk of the state. She also talked about the COVID-19 guidelines and how we should obey all of them and celebrate Raja in pur respective homes.
The pithas have been prepared by the staff of Panthanivas and the women folk of Mission Shakti adhering to all guidelines and in proper hygienic way.
A special number has been introduced for this initiative. The phone number is available on the social media page of OTDC.
All senior officials of OTDC and employees of Panthanivas were present in the inauguration of the event.