The district administration passed the 'One trader, one stall' rule without any prior notification on Friday," alleged Sukant Mohanty, secretary, Baliyatra Traders' Association. "We have given 24-hours time to the district administration to think over the issue, or else all 1500 traders will boycott the Baliyatra this year," he said.Expressing concern over the state of affairs, the traders alleged that the district administration was deliberately formulating new policies as it is not possible to erect thousands of stalls within five days. They added that despite Friday being the last day for granting permission to put up stalls to traders, the district collector has not given them any clearance. "In view of this, we have decided to withdraw from Baliyatra this year, if the district administration doesn't take immediate steps to roll back their rules within 24 hours. We will return all the allotted plots and will not participate in the fair," threatened Shiba Shankar Mohapatra, a member of the association.On the other hand, visitors may miss the giant wheel this year as the district administration has introduced the bidding process for wheel traders. They too have boycotted the fair.Altogether 39 giant wheels were supposed to be set up by 11 wheel traders, who regularly visit the Baliyatra every year. "The wheel traders alleged that the newly introduced tendering process will bring unfair practices to the wheel business as mafias will enter it," alleged Samshad Ali, a wheel trader, who has been coming to the fair for the past 15 years.When contacted, collector Arvinda Agarwal, refused to comment on the issue. In 2016, the National Green tribunal had issued a show-cause notice to the state government over the erection of stall on the mahanadi riverbed during Baliyatra. The NGT has said that no activities can be performed beyond the permissible extent of Mahanadi and Kathajodi river banks without obtaining the permission of the authorities concerned.

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