The ethnic people of Mohadevpur upazila of Naogaon have now got a permanent stage for holding their traditional festivals.

"Such a stage for the ethnic people has been built in the northern districts for the first time," said Rabindranth Soren, president of Jatiya Adivashi Parishad.

The stage, built at Natshal village under Mohadevpur upazila, is called Bhagedin Akhra in Shantal language, which means a "stage of good days."  

A group of ethnic people and Bengali settlers of the upazila, including Rabindranth Soren and his advisor Joynal Abedin, first arranged their traditional Karam Festival in 1996 at the village. Since then, they have been using the place for holding different traditional programmes, including Karam Festival.

People from across the globe come to the remote village in Naogaon every year to celebrate the Karam festival, which is celebrated every year on the night of the full moon of Bhadra.

Tazkir uz Zaman, upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Mohadevpur Sadar upazila, inaugurated the stage on Saturday as the chief guest.

Rabindranath Soren, Joynal Abedin Mukul, district coordinator of Bangladesh Socialist Party, Mahbubur Rahman, newly elected UP chairman, professor Shafiqul Islam Khan of Naogaon Government College, professor Ataul Haque Shiddiqui, and Nabib Uddin, a local journalist, spoke at the programme.

The speakers said the newly built stage would give a new dimension to the festival programmes there, and thanked the UNO of Mohadevpur for his initiatives for building the stage for the ethnic people. They also planted saplings there at the end of the discussion programme.

Sources said the UNO's office of Mohadevpur spent Tk 5 lakh to build the stage by creating a special fund.