Safety, discipline given top priority
Preparations for the Durga Puja celebrations in the city are almost over. The pandals this year have mostly chosen themes of different tourist places so that people can be made aware of the places of tourist importance.
All the Durga puja committees have vied with one another to make their pandals and idols look the best and most innovative. The whole idea is to draw maximum number of pandal hoppers.
Nayapalli Durga Puja committee is expected to be the cynosure of all eyes. It has chosen to ape the laxmi Vilas Palace of the city of Baroda. “Everybody can’t go to Baroda to see the palace. That is why we are representing a replica here. The people can feel the grandeur and beauty of the original palace in our city,” said puja committee founder-member Sanatan Behera.
Around 45 artisans from Kolkata are making the replica of 90 feet tall, while the idol will be 17 feet tall, informed Behera. Bamboos from Siliguri in Assam are used in the pandal, he added. Ravan Darbar like Kansa Darbar in Baragarh is the main feature of Nayapalli Durga Puja this year. Artistes from Baragarh will participate in the mellow drama.
“We are also giving importance to discipline and for this, we will use CC TV footage cameras,” said the Behera.
One of the oldest Puja committees, Old Station Bazar brings the replicas of Dhauligiri, lalitgiri and Konark temple for the city people.
Secretary of the committee Deepak Kumar Jena said, “We have decided to assemble these replicas to create awareness among the people as they have to conserve our tourist places. Artisans from Cuttack have come to craft silver filigree work for the idol which is 15feet tall.”
Women prisoners of Jharpada jail come to the mandap to offer puja and their children are invited by the organisers for prasad. Offering Dahi Pakhala (curd mixed watered rice) to the Devi as Prasad in Dasami is unique in the puja celebrated here at the Old Station Bazar. To maintain discipline and safety of the visitors, more than a hundred volunteers will be engaged here. People can see Bangkok grand palace and Natural Park in Jharpada.
“This is the first time in the city we are organising a natural park in front of our pandal,” said Jharpada Durga Puja Samiti assistant secretary Sridhar Martha. Around 40 craftsmen from Kolkata are preparing the pandal for the last two months. The colour combinations are so stunning that it will attract the people, he said. He informed that the replica of the palace is 75feet tall and 110feet wide. The idol made by Cuttack based artisans will be 12feet tall, he added.
“Specialty of our puja is the mechanical and moving lights. For discipline, we have fitted CC TVs and moving cameras and around 300 volunteers will be engaged here to control the crowd,” Sridhar maintained.