Much to relief of puja committees and revellers, the Commissionerate police have relaxed the ban on the use of loudspeakers at all the puja pandals of the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Instead of the earlier 10-pm deadline, the loudspeakers at the mandaps can now be used till 12 midnight on all puja days, thereby giving an additional two hours of time for cultural programmes like melodies and bhajans, which are an integral part of the Dusshera gaiety in the twin cities.
While over 162 puja mandaps have been erected in Cuttack for the five-day Durga Puja celebrations, over 170 puja mandaps have come up in the capital city of Bhubaneswar.
On the day of Mahasaptami Puja on Saturday, lakhs of devotees in the afternoon turned up at different mandaps in the twin cities to witness the important rituals like Prana Pratishtha (infuse life) and Netra Utsav (opening of the eyes of the clay idols) the goddess.
To maintain law and order during the puja days, the police have deployed 50 platoons of armed cops and specialised forces in Cuttack. Similarly, over 300 senior police officers have been roped in from different nearby districts to oversee the traffic in the city. Similar arrangements have also been made for Bhubaneswar. Commissioner of Police Sudhansu Sarangi is overseeing the police arrangements in the twin cities.