CUTTACK: Yet annother silver tableau will add to the grandeur of Durga Puja celebrations in Cuttack this year. The Dargha Bazaar Mahaveer Puja Committee has designed a silver backdrop weighing 2.8 quintals for the Goddess. With this, the total number of Chandi Medha in the Silver City has increased to 24.
“As the Dargha Bazaar Mahaveer Puja Committee will be celebrating its 25th year, the members unanimously decided to introduce Chandi Medha to commemorate the occasion,” said Saroj Ranjan Kar, Secretary of Dargha Bazar Mahaveer Puja Committee.
As per reports, Durga Puja was started here by consecrating an idol of Goddess Durga made of brass in 1962. From 1993, the committee has been organising Durga Puja with clay idols of the Goddess, he added. “We had started planning for adding Chandi Medha since last year. Accordingly, we prepared ourselves and entrusted its designing work to veteran artist Pradip Kumar Prusty of Alisha Bazar,” said Kar.
Work for construction of Chandi Medha commenced about 10 months back and is nearing completion, he said.
Scheduled to be inaugurated at a grand function on September 25, more than `1 crore has been spent on it, said Kar, adding that office bearers of all puja committees have been invited for the function.
“We are giving final touches and effort is on to complete it by September 22. Later, it will take about three days to fit it at the altar,” said artist Pradip Kumar Prusty, who has been engaged in making up Chandi Medha along with 7 other junior artists. “Filigree work has been done using double folded silver wires and not the single folding and straight ones. It is very complicated, intricate and time-consuming,” Prusty informed.