At the launching ceremony, 6 elephant art pieces handcrafted by local artisans were unveiled. Besides, several activities including cultural performances, cycle rally, origami and storytelling workshops for students and informative sessions, all designed to highlight the importance of elephants and their habitats, were organised.

A symbolic baton was handed over by Pradip Kumar Amat, Minister of Forest and Environment to Sumit Kar, Dhenkanal DFO, Bijaya Dash, Collective Initiation For Social Solidarity (CISS) and Sandeep Tiwari, Chief of Conservation, WTI. The function concluded with a media panel discussion on “Sensitive and Responsible Wildlife Journalism”.

Gaj Utsav is a campaign by the WTI with a mission to raise awareness about safeguarding the future of India’s National Heritage Animal, while advocating for their essential right of passage.

Odisha is home to over 1900 elephants spanning three elephant reserves and having 12 identified elephant corridors. Gaj Utsav seeks to encourage collective action among policymakers, media, infrastructure agencies, legal professionals, and wildlife experts for their protection. The campaign has successfully engaged with 75,000 people across the country in the last 5 years.

Sushil Kumar Popli, PCCF and CWLW, Debidutt Biswal, PCCF and HoFF, Satyabrata Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Forest, Environment and Climate Change were among others present at the function.