STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Police Commissionerate, Guwahati has permitted as many as 550 puja committees to celebrate the Durga Puja under its jurisdiction.
The police administration has set a slew of rules for the puja committees and others to follow during the festival. The police made it a point that no puja committee can erect puja pandals and other structures on roads. It has also barred the playing of high decibel music (sound) and songs other than devotional numbers.
Kamrup Metro District Transport Office has set several rules to avert traffic snarls during the puja. It has appealed to each Durga Puja committee to display posters and banners to bring about road-safety awareness.
APDCL (Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd) has also set some guidelines for temporary power connections for the puja committees. The power company stressed safety measures to avoid any power-related accidents.
The APDCL said, "Each Durga Puja Committee must apply for temporary electrical installations at least seven days before the commencement of the puja. It has asked the puja committees not to use any wire joined with tape at a height of fewer than three metres for series lights used for decoration. Puja committees cannot erect any puja pandals, structures and gates near and below overhead electric power lines."
Meanwhile, Barbari Durga Chandika Mandir is exceptional for holding Durga Puja since 2007 without any fanfare. This Durga Puja is purely devotional. Instead of idols of Goddess Durga, this mandir performs the puja with 108 ghots.
The Athgaon Durga Puja Committee has a big budget of Rs 20 lakh for this Durga Puja. The designers brought from Kolkata by this puja committee will depict the theme of the co-existence of humans with plants and animals. The main gate will have a giant barn owl displayed on it.
The Greater Narengi Durga Puja Samiti is celebrating its 57th Durga Puja. It has erected a prototype of the Kedarnath Mandir of Uttarakhand with the help of designers from Kolkata. It has a budget of Rs 13 lakh. On the exhibition side, this committee will showcase humans in the role of gods and goddesses, besides the killing of the demon.
The Sri Sri Sabajanin Durga Puja Committee at Lalganesh is celebrating the silver jubilee of Durga Puja. It has a big budget of Rs 30 lakh. They have erected a prototype of Belur Math of West Bengal.
The Chatribari Sarbajanin Durga Puja Committee is celebrating its 68th Durga Puja this year. They used 18,000 pens and pencils to make an 8 X 5 feet idol. Artisan Sanjay Chandra from Basugaon took six months to make this idol. The committee has a budget of Rs 15 lakh. It will display over 10,000 books of different genres on either side of the entrance to the pandal.
The Bishnupur Bimala Nagar Sarbajanin Durga Puja Samiti will depict a model of the Ankur Bhatt temple in Cambodia. Noted artist Nuruddin Ahmed made this temple with 40 local assistants. The budget of the puja committee is Rs 22 lakh. It is the 56th puja of this committee.
The Sri Sri Sarbajanin Durga Puja of Pandu Institute Colony is holding the 112th Durga Puja with an idol made of Basmati rice.
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