Bhubaneswar: Durga Puja panels brace to keep crowds at bay

BHUBANESWAR: With the stage set for Durga Puja, organisers across the city are making all efforts to keep the celebrations low-key and follow all Covid-19 guidelines, considering the possibility of the pandemic’s third wave.
Kalibari, a puja committee of the city’s Bengali community, has restricted the visit of everyone, except priests, in their pandal. Unlike previous years, no celebrity will visit the Kalibari puja this year. Organisers of other prominent pujas also said that muted celebrations will be held so that people follow the state-imposed Covid-19 curbs and help prevent any spurt of infections.
“Durga Puja is the biggest festival of Bengalis, and we celebrate it in a grand manner every year. But this year, we have decided to give top priority to public health. No member of the community will be allowed inside the mandap nor will devotees be allowed to offer pushpanjali or partake bhog in person,” said Biswaroop Chakraborty, a member of the Kalibari Durga Puja Committee, at Ashok Nagar here.
“This year, we will just arrange a ghot (pitcher) puja on Mahastami. We will live-stream all the rituals on Facebook. Neither visitors nor more than five puja committee members at once will be allowed at the mandap,” said Jishnu Dey, another member of the puja committee.
“Covid-19 has already taken a toll on our lives. The second wave was deadlier than the first one, and we don’t want the third wave to hit the country. Despite all restrictions imposed by the government, many people are still careless. We don’t want to take any risk. Therefore, we have decided not to allow anyone at the puja mandap. Only members with complete vaccination certificates will be allowed,” said Deepak Jena, secretary of the Old Station Bazar Sarbadiya Puja Committee.
For the past two days, Odisha has been witnessing a jump in Covid-19 cases. A total of 652 cases were reported on Sunday, while the number of fresh infections was 526 on Saturday.
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