Hundreds of tourists were awestruck by the acrobatic performances of a troupe of Thappattam dancers at the Ooty Lake and Boat House during the 'Pongal Thiruvizha' organised by the Tourism Department on Tuesday.
The festival was inaugurated by the Nilgiris District Collector, Innocent Divya.
It also featured dance performance by members of the Kota tribes, one of the indigenous tribes of the Nilgiris.
The Collector, along with tourists, joined the Kotas and celebrated Pongal. Sweet pongal was then distributed to tourists.
M. Rajan, Tourism Officer, the Nilgiris, told The Hindu that the Thappattam dancers from Dharapuram in Tirupur, were specially brought to the Nilgiris to entertain the crowds.
He added that there would be more performances at the Ooty Lake and Boat House on Wednesday. “We will honour all the performers with mementos,” he added.
The event also heralded the first day of the ban on plastic products enforced in the Nilgiris by the district administration.
The District Collector told reporters here that as the Nilgiris was an ecological hotspot, home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, the ban on plastics will be enforced strictly.
She asked tourists and merchants to cooperate with the administration.
The administration has announced a ban on plastic and foil-lined paper plates, styrofoam/thermocol plates and cups, polypropylene (non-woven) carry bags, packing bags, bedsheets, hats, caps and bedsheets, plastic gloves, water packets, silver foil covers, plastic buntings, plastic and foil gift wrap, laminated brown covers, bakery boxes, cling wrap and plastic water bottles below with a capacity of less than one litre.
