CUTTACK: After a five-day festive revelry, Cuttack on Thursday bid adieu to the Mother Goddess as a grand immersion ceremony was carried out amid tight security here in the city.
People, in thousands, lined the stretch from Ranihat to Devigada, the immersion point located on the Kathajodi riverbed to catch one last glimpse of the Goddess Durga idols during the immersion procession.
Even as an air of melancholy prevailed in the city, a carnival like atmosphere dominated the Devigada and its adjacent Purighat locality where the immersion procession was carried out amid traditional fanfare with beating of dhol, singha, madal, dulduli and cymbals, and blowing of conches.
DCP Khilari Rishikesh Dnyandeo said around 500 police officers, 60 platoons of police force, 2,100 armed police reserve (APR) and OAPF personnel, 700 home guards and two companies of CAPF were deployed across the city for maintenance of law and order. “Around 57 temporary police aid posts were also set up and the entire immersion route was kept under surveillance of more than 1,300 CCTV cameras and four dedicated drone teams for the occasion,” he added.
Makeshift shops were set up along the roads leading to Devigada with rural artisans selling different kinds of household and handicraft items. By 7.40 pm, as many as 44 idols of Goddess Durga and Hara-Parbati were immersed in the three artificial ponds set up on Kathajodi river bank near Devigada.
Keeping their tradition intact, the Shakti Pithas (shrines), Bengali communities and individual households immersed their idols and Kalashas immediately after conclusion of Bijay Dashami rituals on Wednesday. On the day, citizens were treated to various folk dance performances, including Ghoda Nacha, Bagha Nacha, Sandha Nacha, Kela-Keluni, Sabara-Sabaruni, Dhanakoila and Jodi Sankha during the immersion ceremony.