OdishaPlus Bureau
Festive fervour gripped the Millennium City as the five-day long Durga Puja festival begun with traditional pomp and gaiety on Friday. As many as 165 Puja pandals have come alive with exquisite decorations, attractive welcome arches, and sparkling lights.
While Goddess Durga, the annihilator of demon Mahisasura, is being worshiped at 85 pandals, the idols of other deities, including that of Hara-Parbati have been consecrated at the remaining pandals.
While 27 Puja Committees have put up silver tableaux (Chandi Medha) at their altars, around 10 Committees have used gold ornaments to decorate Goddess Durga and Her other celestial companions including the demon Mahishasura.
As the Puja Committees started the celebration by observing Sasthi Puja with a performance of ‘Bela Baran’ rituals on Friday evening, devotees started thronging altars to get a look of the puja pandal. The footfall at different puja pandals will be maximized on Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Bijaya Dashami days.
This year, incessant rain had hindered puja preparations for about four days. However, the organisers have come over the problem and completed their pandals in time by engaging extra manpower. With weather God unlikely to play any spoilsports, city residents are getting ready to celebrate and rejoice festivity of the puja by visiting pandals. The entire city has been decked up with exquisite decorations and huge light gates erected by different puja committees.
To ease congestion, Commissionerate Police has imposed a one-way traffic system in the city. Apart from police deployment at puja pandals, security has been beefed up at Cuttack railway station, Badambadi Bus Stand and some other important places which would witness congestion during puja. CCTV cameras have been installed at different crowded places and strategic locations in the city to keep an eye on the trouble-makers.
As many as 50 platoons of police forces have been deployed for smooth celebration of Durga Puja festival, informed DCP Akhilesvar Singh, adding that 57 platoons of police forces would be deployed during immersion ceremony. Immersion of idols will take place on Wednesday.
