SILCHAR, Oct 2 - Amidst forecast of rain for the next few days, people of Barak Valley are gearing up to celebrate the Durga Puja.
With only two days left for the celebrations to kick off, Puja committees and artisans are seen extremely busy giving final touches to the idols of Goddess Durga and her celestial children, pandals and overall preparations. The Puja revellers are also thronging the shops to pick the best apparel available.
Responding to the appeal made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Saptarshi Mandal puja committee has decided to go �plastic free� in their silver jubilee puja celebrations.
Arun Kumar Paul, one of the founder members of the puja committee informed The Assam Tribune that this year they are exhibiting the origin of Durga Puja in Bengal by King Surat along with invocation to the Goddess by Lord Ram and also the modern day idol of the deities. �We want the present generation to learn about the history behind the Durga Puja and hence we have made an attempt to come up with the traditional manifestation of the puja.�
Molly Roy, another member of the committee claimed that they have erected the pandal without using a single plastic.
On the other hand, Ambikapur Purbapara-Hospital road Puja committee and Matri Mandir Puja committee celebrating their centenary and golden jubilee year respectively are all set to pull in a great crowd. Meanwhile, big budget puja committees of Udharbondh-Kalibari Road Puja committee and Hospital Road Puja committee promised to pull in massive crowd.
Cachar DC Laya Madduri held a meeting with some of the Puja committees of Silchar with an appeal to comply with pollution control norms including noise pollution and waste disposal. They were also asked to install CCTV cameras at their respective pandals as a security measure.
Along with officials of the District Transport Office, Cachar Police assured that strict vigil will be kept during the celebration of Puja. Additional SP Jagadish Das has requested all the committees to have proper illumination of the pandals and adjoining areas.
