LUMDING, April 14 - The eight-day-long Sitala puja from April 4 to April 11 completed 60 years this year. It�s the biggest puja in Lumding, where lakhs of people from different parts of the North-east and outside the North-east attend every year. The celebration committee consisted of a large number of members.
The inaugural ceremony (adhibasa) started in the evening of April 3. The ceremony was attended by a number of dignitaries of the locality including local MLA Sibu Mishra and Swapan Kar, formar MLA and the members of the puja committee.
Thousands of people thronged the puja pandal throughout the day. All the rites and rituals, worshipping of goddess Sitala etc., were performed everyday since morning to evening.
Stalls set up by businessmen from different parts of the district at the mela attrated a large number of people.
This year �Maut-ka-kua�, nagardola and lighting arrangements were absent due to reasons best known to the committee and organisers concerned. The puja programmes included ghat procession, puspanjali, aratrika and distribution of prasad everyday after the puja.
