lakhs splurged on pomp and show
This year Dussehra in the city here will be remembered for the bigger pandals and all the pomp and ostentation that went with them.
Nayapalli puja committee president Pabitra Mohan Behera said that Rs 25 lakh was spent on erecting a 25-feet high pandal, which resembles the iconic laxmi Vilash Palace hotel in Udaipur. “We hired artisans from Kolkata to construct the pandal,” a proud Behera chuckled. The pandal’s 18-feet high idol of Goddess Durga was surrounded by elaborate decoration all around it. Thousands of devotees thronged the pandal to have a glance at its magnificent workmanship and artistry.
The idol at the Sahid Nagar mandap, one of the oldest in the city, was smaller (14 feet) than the one at Nayapalli. But at 75 feet, the pandal more than made up for the relatively smaller size of the idol. The intricate jari work that marked the pandal bore an unmistakable touch of master craftsmen from Cuttack.
The 70 feet high pandal at Rasulgarh shaped like the famous Buddha Mandir of Sikkim decorated with a silver and tin coat on the outer walls had an 18-foot high idol placed inside. It drew people in droves.
Thousands of devotees visited the mandaps every day. Especially, the ones at Nayapalli, Sahidnagar, Rasulgarh, Bomikhal and laxmi Sagar were in the must visit list of the city dwellers. The crowd swelled in the evenings, while on the last day, people came streaming in till very late in the night to witness the cultural programmes and melodies organized by most pandals on Suturday night. Ecstatic Pradeep Barisal, president of the Rasulgarh Durga Puja Parichalana Committee, said, “We spent approximately Rs 30 lakh towards construction of pandal and paying the craftsmen from Kolkata.” There were other big pandals in the city too, notably in Master Canteen Square, Bapuji Nagar and Old Town.