Cuttack: Chauliaganj Puja Committee in the Silver City here has earmarked a whopping sum of Rs 16 lakh to celebrate this year’s Dussehra lavishly.
Expecting huge turnout at its puja pandal, the committee has urged district administration to deploy a few traffic police personnel in the locality, sources said.
According to locals, Chauliaganj Puja Committee was formed in 1925. Chintamani Sahu and Hadibandhu Sahu were the first president and secretary of the puja panel.
Members of the committee were initially worshipping the clay idols of Hara-Parvati in a thatched room during Dussehra. However, the committee started worshipping the clay idol of Goddess Durga during Dussehra in 1962.
“A permanent pandal for the worship of Devi Durga was constructed in 1982. Apart from Dussehra, we are also organising festivals like Ganesh Puja, Gajalaxmi Puja, Kali Puja and Janmastami,” said a member of Chauliaganj Puja Committee.
According to him, the puja panel had designed a silver tableau for Dussehra celebration in 1999. It had arranged around five quintals of silver for the tableau. This apart, the committee has made two silver lions and a gold crown for the idol of Durga. “Artisan Bishwanath Dey of Sheikh Bazar had made the crown by using around 4kg gold in 2007,” said another member of the Puja panel.
It is learnt that the committee has decided to install two massive LED gates at OMP Square and Gandhi Square for Dussehra. Besides, it will install around 100 small LED gates near its puja pandal.
Apart from that, the committee has planned to distribute Dahi Pakhala (curd rice) among 10,000 people during Dussehra.
“Thousands of devotees from across the Cuttack city will throng our puja pandal. We will introduce adequate measures to manage the crowd and organise the festival smoothly,” said Chauliaganj Puja Committee president Debendra Patra.
Puja committee secretary Niranjan Sahu said they have urged the district administration to deploy adequate traffic personnel near their pandal and install speed breakers on Cuttack-Paradip highway to regulate vehicular traffic during Dussehra.
