HAILAKANDI, Oct 9 - Durgostav was celebrated in Hailakandi district of Barak valley with traditional gaiety and religious fervour.
The immersion of idols in Gandhighat at the banks of river Dhaleswari in the town continued till midnight on Tuesday. Almost all the puja committees tried to maintain eco-friendly environment in and outside the pandals. Nutanpara Durga Puja Committee made their idol without any plastic material. On the other hand, Police Puja and Purbapara Durga puja committee made their theme as �water conservation�. The Hailakandi district administration had asked the puja organising committees to go for eco-friendly and plastic-free Durga Puja this season to keep pollution in check.
The theme of Maa Annapurna Club was �brothel�. The club is celebrating their seventh year of Durga Puja. This particular theme was probably chosen for the first time in Barak Valley of South Assam. Last year, their theme was display of culture and tradition of Meitei Manipuri. In 2017 and 2016, they presented the themes � pyramid of Egypt and fusion of Hinduism and Buddhism respectively.
Arunaday Pranab Sangha celebrated their 50 years of establishment and published a souvenir. Cultural programmes were organized on all the three days of Durgotsav. Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya performed live Durga idol in the premises of Uttarpally Durga puja Committee. Nava Durga was worshipped in Karicherra, 45 kms from here bordering Mizoram.
Panchajanya Sanskritik Sanstha and Lala Sanskritik Mancha in collaboration with Lala Municipal Board organised a �pujor adda� during all the festive days in Lala town of the district. An open quiz on various topics related to Goddess Durga and Durgotsav was held among the puja revellers and prizes were also given to the winners on the spot.
The Deputy Commissioner and Police Super of Hailakandi, Keerthi Jalli and Pabindra Kumar Nath thanked the people of Hailakandi for maintaining peace and harmony during the festival.
The Rotary Club of Hailakandi distributed water among the people during Dashami celebration. Hailakandi Press Club gave away awards to various puja committees in different categories on the day of Maha Astami.
Our Correspondent from Dergaon adds: The Durga Puja celebration came to an end peacefully at Dergaon. As many as 52 Durga Puja pandals were at greater Dergaon while two puja pandals at Dergaon town by the NH 37 witnessed a large gathering of puja revellers.
A large gathering was witnessed and the civil administration was able to control the situation and no untoward incident was reported during the celebration.
As two of the major puja pandals Devagram Durga Puja Samiti and Dergaon Rajahuwa Durga Puja Samiti were just by the NH 37, so a large gathering as well as acute traffic jam were witnessed for which the police personnel on duty had to deal with a difficult situation.
The Dergaon Durga Puja Samiti at Naren Sarma memorial field also received attraction from the puja revellers.
The Dergaon Rajahuwa Durag Puja Samiti celebrated its Golden Jubilee this year as the puja was started in 1970 with the theme traditional Dhak. To mark the occasion, a colourful souvenir Bodhan edited by Prakash Kumar Neog and published by Surjya Ramavatar Agarwalla was released by Pradip Khadaria on Monday. A bhaona was also staged on Sunday. The Puja committee headed by Rajat Sarma and Surjya Ramavatar Agarwalla succeeded in cutting down the use of single-use plastic and could maintain a clean environment during the celebration.
On the other hand, due to lack of sufficient open space around the puja pandal near ASTC Dergaon the puja revellers especially the women and children had to face a tough situation during the jam.
Similarly no puja committee gave any importance to the physically disabled persons for which they could not take part in the celebration.
�Puja committees should think of the physically disabled persons too,� a senior citizen opined.
As many as 40 Durga idols were immersed on river Gelabeel at the RCC bridge point at Dergaon along with some other at Kakodonga bridge point and Rangamatty bridge point on Tuesday.
The puja committees alleged acute negligence of the police administration at the immersion site at Gelabeel RCC bridge. They also alleged that this time the Officer in Charge of Dergaon police station did not organise a single meeting with the puja committees to discuss the preparation process before the celebration.
However, the Golaghat district administration with the help of Dergaon administration could manage the immersion process properly and it ended peacefully.
ANN Service from Sivasagar adds: Sivasagar district administration made immersion of over 30 Durga idols in various ghats of the district smooth and hassle-free yesterday as it successfully completed all preparation and security arrangements in the entire district. With it, the Durga puja festival in Sivasagar district came to an end successfully and peacefully.
The concrete gradient up to the waterfront of the river built by the administration with a fund of Rs 4 lakh provided by Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Pd Tasha, fulfilled a long-standing demand of the people here.
The Deputy Commissioner, Sivasagar Dr MS Laksmipriya personally oversaw the functioning at the Thana ghat with Superintendent of Police, Sivasagar Amitabh Sinha and other district officers. District Disaster Management team, SDRF, district police and the committees formed for the purpose helped the public in smooth immersion of idols. Durga puja committees also thanked the district administration for the commendable service.
ANN Service from Tihu adds: The festivities of Tihu Durga Puja festival passed off peacefully with the immersion of idols in Tihu river yesterday afternoon and Ravan Dahan programmes.
People in large numbers, including children and women, gathered on the bank of the Tihu river to witness the immersion programmes and bade adieu to the Goddess. Afterwards, the people gathered at the Tihu High School playground to witness the 100-foot-tall Ravan Dahan programme along with bursting of firecrackers.
On the other hand, various cultural programmes and competitions were organised to mark the puja festival. On october 7, several public figures were felicitated by the Tihu Durga Puja committee.
Meanwhile, the Kaithalkuchi Sarbajanin Durga Puja committee celebrated the Durga Puja festival with a five-day-long programme where a large number of people visited the place. The immersion of Goddess Durga idol was done at Marapagaldia river.
