BHUBANESWAR: When it comes to Durga Puja, Bhubaneswar makes headlines for its innovative pandals. The puja committees here are now going a step further by making the celebrations inclusive. They want to ensure that festivity is not restricted to just one section of society.
Some of the puja committees this year are involving transgenders in managing the crowd at pandals and some have put in place arrangements for hassle-free visits of differently-abled and elderly devotees.
Nayapalli Durga Puja committee, which has created a pandal with a message to end negligence towards the elderly and parents in homes, has roped in members from the transgender community for effective crowd management at its pandal. “The objective is to make them feel that they are also part of the celebrations,” said Nayapalli Durga Puja committee advisor Naba Kishore Behera.
Behera said traditionally, transgenders are given high respect and people seek blessings from them. However, they continue to remain one of the most neglected communities in the society and their participation is also extremely low when it comes to festivals. “This should end,” he said. Behera informed that this year their puja committee has involved 50 transgender volunteers whose main responsibility will be to facilitate smooth darshan of devotees at pandals and coordinate with security personnel and other volunteers to check snatching, theft and other such crimes near the pandal.
“We hope this trend continues in the city and all other pandals encourage participation of transgenders,” said Nayapalli Puja committee president Menaka Parida. At Saheed Nagar pandal, women volunteers will made puja arrangements and provide security to women devotees, said Saheed Nagar Durga Puja Samiti secretary Sachinandan Nayak.
The Saheed Nagar Puja Samiti will have separate gates for differently-abled persons and senior citizens. Similar arrangements have also been put in place by Old Station Bazar and Rasulgarh Puja committees.
At Old Station Bazar, where a large number of people are thronging the Varanasi’s Ganga Ghat themed pandal, the organisers have made arrangements of wheel-chairs for the differently-abled persons and senior citizens who are unable to walk. “Our effort is to make Puja inclusive and accessible for all,” said president of Sarbajanina Durga Puja Samiti at Old Station Bazaar Ganesh Prasad Sahoo.