The third edition of the 12-day 'Dwijing Festival', a river tourism project of the Assam government, begins from December 27 in Chirang district.
'Dwijing' means river bank and the festival covering areas around the river Aie will focus on business and income generation for the local people through rural tourism, Assam Tourism Minister Chandan Brahma told reporters here Wednesday.
The river Aie, meaning 'Mother', originates from the Himalayas of Bhutan flowing through Chirang and Bongaigaon districts before meeting the river Brahmaputra. The Aie plays a vital role in the lives of people of the area.
The venue of the various events of the festival will centre around the Hagrama bridge, the longest rural river bridge in the state, Brahma added.
"We plan to make it one of the biggest festivals of the region and establish it as an annual calendar event at the national and international level," the minister said.
The festival would showcase ethnic trade, cuisine, culture, games and sports, exhibitions, adventure sports, river rafting, helicopter rides and cultural programmes to make it a centre of attraction for the visitors as a New Year event.
Leading Bollywood artistes such as Malaika Arora Khan, Himesh Reshammiya, Kailash Kher, Amit Trivedi, Shweta Pandit and a galaxy of stars are expected to perform during the 12-day festival.
The festival is being organised jointly by Assam's tourism department, Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) and Bodoland Tourism.
The ATDC would promote this event at the national platform and "we want to change the image of the BTAD areas by presenting the beauty and culture of the region", ATDC Chairman Jayanta Malla Baruah said.
The festival would focus on contemporary attractions of Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) - Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baska and Udalguri.
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