JORHAT, Oct 8 - The five-day Durga Puja celebrations here came to an end today with the immersion of their idols on Dashami, thus marking the end of the Goddess� earthly sojourn and return to her abode at Mount Kailash.
People in large numbers, including women and children lined up beside the AT Road and Gar-Ali here before noon to watch and bid adieu to the Goddess, whose idols were brought on trucks by the puja organising committees followed by the respective committee members on foot in the afternoon yesterday.
The idols were immersed at the Puja Dubi Ghat of Bhogdoi river here with the district administration making necessary arrangements and issuing guidelines to be followed by the puja organisers to enable the ceremony to be observed smoothly. The devotees accompanying the idols danced to Bollywood numbers with many putting red gulal on their faces. However, some puja committees preferred to play religious hymns.
Most of the roads in the town were closed for vehicular traffic since Saptami by the police to ensure free movement of pedestrians.
The immersion of idols continued till nightfall as the immersion process got delayed a bit midway due to showers interrupting in late afternoon.
Deployment of policemen, including women staff, in large numbers at the ghat and along the route was there to maintain law and order and control unruly elements.
In all, 87 puja mandaps were erected in and around Jorhat, while the total number in the district was over 200.
Unlike last week, the weather during the past four days remained free from showers, thus providing the perfect environment for the puja celebrations which passed off by and large peacefully except a few sporadic incidents.
Policemen on motorcycles continuously patrolled the town to take on any kind of troublemakers, especially eve-teasers. Several temporary control rooms were set up by the police across the town for close monitoring of the situation and CCTVs were also installed in the puja mandaps to keep a watch on the people�s movements.
