Cuttack City Marks Peaceful End to Five-Day Durga Puja With Idol Immersion

The five-day-long Durga Puja concluded peacefully in Cuttack City, with vibrant festivities, as idol immersion at Devi Gada proceeded smoothly without any incidents.

Cuttack: The five-day-long Durga Puja ended peacefully with religious fervour, excitement and festivity in Cuttack City on Sunday. All roads of the city on Monday led to Devi Gada on the left embankment of Kathajodi River for the immersion of Goddess Durga idols on Monday, which is now going on smoothly without any untoward incident.

The clay idols of Goddess Durga, along with well-decorated tableaux, are now taken in majestic processions for immersion in the make-shift ponds at Devi Gada with massive police bandobast. Interestingly, the procession parties this year did not accompany any vehicles carrying manual music with a DJ in Cuttack City. The Puja Committees vowed before the district administration to adhere to the slogan of “No Liquor and No DJ” during the immersion procession.

"The two-day long immersion festival will continue throughout Monday night and will end by Tuesday morning”, said Twin City police Commissioner S Devadutta Singh here adding that so far there has been no major law and order problem arising in any part of the city. “The immersion, like the Durga Puja celebrations, is going on smoothly”, he said congratulating the Puja Committee heads for adhering to the police regulations.

The Police Commissioner, along with City DCP Jagmohan Meena and other senior police officers, are monitoring the processions of the city at the temporary modern CCTV Control Room with a portable setup at the Dargha Bazar Police Station of the city.

At least 444 CCTV cameras are fitted along the procession routes of the city and the footage of these surveillance cameras are being monitored round-the-clock by dedicated police officers, sources said. "At least 20 clay idols in Cuttack city have already been immersed by 5 pm on Monday and most of the remaining tableaux have joined the mainstream procession at Buxi Bazar and Chandni Chowk”, police sources said, hoping that the festivities would end peacefully on Tuesday morning.

Earlier, the puja rituals ended on Sunday evening with Bijoya Dashami celebrations that marked the burning of the effigies of the ten-headed demon Ravana at several places in the city. The celebrations in Cuttack city began on Thursday evening with Maha Saptami puja and lakhs turned up to over 160 puja pandals throughout the remaining three days with the city roads witnessing jam-packed traffic.

Pandals with decorative tableaux and colourful welcome arches drew the revellers in thousands particularly, those sporting silver tableau and golden crowns were the major crowd pullers. Armed police guards were deployed round-the-clock at the mandaps that sported silver and golden tableaus and over 50 platoons of forces, along with CRPF men, ensured the one-way traffic was followed during the pandal-hopping.

Similarly, over 65 platoons of forces from different wings with an additional 10 platoons of armed forces are now on duty for the two-day immersion festival. The traffic cops, fire brigade, district administration and the city civic body have all been kept on alert for the immersion in the city.