ROURKELA: Curtains came down on Durga Puja festival in Rourkela as idols of Maa Durga were immersed in water bodies on Sunday.In fact, the immersion was extended for a day to Sunday with various Durga Puja Committees of the city considering Saturday to be inauspicious to bid adieu to the Goddess.
Central Puja Committee (CPC) general secretary Chaudhary Bijay Patnaik said as per tradition, various puja committees under the CPC fold brought idols of Goddess Durga to the assembling ground at Sector-13 for rating. He said from there, the idols were taken one by one for immersion at Balughat. Like last year, a makeshift pond has been created at Balughat for immersion to avoid Brahmani river from getting polluted. From Sunday afternoon onwards, about two dozen idols directly proceeded towards the immersion pond without reaching Sector-13 ground.
Sources said a member of Sector-20 Puja Committee Amar Das was injured after he came in contact with overhead wire while he was atop the truck carrying Durga idol at Balughat. Earlier, in course of the Durga Puja festival, about 15 platoons of police force along with traffic police personnel were deployed to manage crowd and vehicular traffic. Volunteers of CPC and Puja Committees also aided the police. About half a dozen temporary police aid posts were also set up.