ROURKELA:Rourkela Smart City soaked in Durga Puja fervour on Thursday as thousands of visitors flooded celebration venues to get a feel of the artistic splendour of theme-based pandals on the occasion of Maha Ashtami.As the crowd kept on swelling on the city roads, policemen had a tough time managing the traffic and keep trouble mongers at bay.
Puja organisers said from Thursday, there has been a manifold increase in the number of pandal hoppers. The city is known for organising the Durga Puja on a grand scale with lavish spending on unique pandals and lighting decoration on attractive themes.Approximately, around 10 lakh people from the Steel City and rest of Sundargarh besides its adjacent districts and neighbouring pockets of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand visit Rourkela during the Durga Puja festival.
Rourkela SP Uma Shankar Dash informed that from Wednesday, the rush of revellers has increased and heavy crowds are expected on Thursday and Friday. Necessary arrangements have been put in place for smooth and peaceful conduct of the festival. As many as 22 platoons of forces have been deployed while three additional platoons are kept reserved for mobilisation if the need arises, he said and added that volunteers of Puja committees have been asked to assist policemen in management of crowd, traffic and maintaining law and order.
Central Puja Committee (CPC) general secretary B K Patnaik informed that there are 102 Puja Committees under the CPC fold and venues, which are witnessing huge footfall, have made arrangements for electronic surveillance and fire safety. Puja Committees have been instructed by the city administration to strictly adhere to guidelines for playing sound system and immersion schedule on October 2, he added. It is learnt that the burning of effigy of Demon King Ravana would take place at Sector-13 ground on Saturday while the same place would also host the assemblage of idols for rating before the immersion ceremony.
Police camps have been set up at the most crowded venues including Telephone Bhawan ground, Sector-6 H Block ground besides Sector-1, 2 and 16 grounds. Vehicular traffic is being regulated on the Ring Road at Sector areas and long distance night buses have been given new route. These vehicles will start from Sector-2 bus stand and have to avoid the Sector areas while going out of the city.