Durga Puja fever grips Guwahati

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Sept 13: The Durga Puja fever has gripped Guwahati even as the Viswakarma Puja is still to go. Puja committees in the city, as usual, are busy bees. They have brought artisans and decorators from Kolkata and many other places.

Thematic puja is not new in Assam. The Maidan Beltola Lakhi Mandir Durga Puja Committee has floods as its chosen theme. Through the small budget (Rs 15 lakh) puja expenditure they want to get the message through as to how the people of the State have been ravaged by successive waves of floods. They want to make if crystal clear that apart from the government, the people should also come forward to give succour to the flood-affected people in the State. They, however, are not going to cut cost in security aspects. Besides deployment of volunteers and home guards, they are set to install CCTV cameras, measures for firefighting and a standby doctor round the clock.

The Latasil Puja Committee is set to make an 85-foot Ganesh lie down atop a hill. A 75-foot-tall Goddess Durga will be made stand over Ganesh. They will have cultural nites, including puppetry shows, Ojapali and other altertive media. Their budget is Rs 16 lakh. They have ordered eco-friendly materials from Kolong in Jagiroad for use during the puja. They are going to take security personnel from private security agencies and make them trained in the local police stations for their deployment during the puja. They kept all security measures like CCTV cameras and others ready.

The Sadou Japorigog Sarbojanin Durga Puja Samiti has already erected a 60-foot-tall Vishnu idol. The committee has been organizing Durga Puja since 1983. The committee has a big budget amounting to Rs 20 lakh. The head artisan is from Dhubri but his helpers are from Kolkata. They have been working for one month and a half.