Insight Bureau:  Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, former member of Lok Sabha, has urged Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to allow three days of local holidays in Western Odisha to commemorate the Nuakhai Juhar festival.

He urged the Odisha CM to reconsider the number of holidays on the eve of the Nuakhai festival and declare three days of local holidays for all offices, banks and schools of Western Odisha to observe the Nuakhai festival as part of their rituals.

Nuakhai festival is celebrated in Western Odisha for a week every year. Nua Khai is the major Agricultural Festival of  western Odisha. The newly harvest crops are worshipped and people celebrate it by eating.