ROURKELA: Rourkela is gearing up for a grand Durga Puja this year with artisans from West Bengal busy erecting exquisite ‘pandals’.Revellers are in for a visual treat with the sector-1 (old) Durga Puja Committee replicating the majestic Hungarian Parliament. Committee general secretary Manoj Pradhan said in the 55th year of celebration, the replica of Hungarian Parliament at Budapest is 200 feet wide and 110 feet high. He said the entire Puja budget is of around `15 lakh of which `10 lakh has been spent on pandal decoration. About 50 artisans from Bengal have been engaged to construct the pandal and nearly 80 per cent of the work is over. A glimpse of it shows these artisans are packed with skills to replicate anything under the sky.
Another most-sought after destination is sector-2 Durga Puja Ground and its committee’s working president Aditya Barik said they are coming out with the replica of the flashy Akshardham temple of Delhi. He said of total budget of about `15 lakh, pandal decoration alone costs nearly `9 lakh. About 30 artisans from Bengal are engaged in the job for nearly a month, Barik said.
Incidentally, in Rourkela while artisans from Bengal are the sole choice for constructing innovative pandals, idol makers from Rourkela and other parts of Odisha are chosen for idol making.Sector-6 H Block Durga Puja Committee president said they are replicating the Laxmi Temple of Rajasthan with 80 feet wide and 60 feet high pandal. He said around 20 Bengali artisans are busy giving finishing touches to the pandal while Parikshit Sahoo with his team is busy completing the idol. For some reason, the entire puja budget has been lowered to around `7 lakh this year.
The Telephone Bhawan Durga Puja celebration till last year was one of the biggest crowd pullers, but this year the organisers comprising BSNL workers are facing financial crunch. Committee president Sanjiv Mohanty said they are replicating a Chinese boat and trying to ensure the celebration is grand.
Other puja committees of sector-7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20 and Koelnagar along with a host of other venues too are coming up with attractive and expensive pandals. Central Puja Committee (CPC) general secretary Chaudhary Bijay Patnaik said there are about 107 committees under the CPC fold.