CUTTACK: The Millennium City has been decked up and is all set for the public celebration of the Ganesh Puja festival. Around 1,500 Ganesh idols will be worshipped by different Puja committees, clubs and other youth and cultural associations in and around the city.
While individual households were rushing to buy ready-made small idols, the puja committees have installed life-sized idols at their decorated pandals, planning for a grand celebration with a budget ranging from Rs 8 to Rs 10 lakh.
Apart from colourful decorations and lights, many Puja committees, clubs and youth associations have erected welcome arches to woo the revellers. The welcome arches have been constructed mostly in the Nuapada locality of the city.
Nuapada Press Colony Club has constructed a welcome arch replicating the Barabati Stadium at the cost of Rs 2.30 lakh. Similarly, Dibyajyoti Club has erected a gate replicating the Kedarnath temple at a cost of Rs 3 lakh. While Nuapada’s Biswarup Club has constructed an arch based on the theme of an ancient cave at a cost of Rs 1.7 lakh, another club in Nuapada has constructed a gate replicating the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
“Earlier we had constructed Belur Math, Kashi Biswanath temple. But after Odisha’s Droupadi Murmu became President of India, we decided to construct a Rashtrapati Bhavan-themed gate, said club president Purusottam Lenka.
The Puja organisers have arranged melody and dance troupes for holding cultural programmes as part of celebrations, with the immersion ceremony to be carried out in three phases on September 4, 11 and 18.
As many as 1,045 Puja committees, clubs and other youth and cultural associations in and around the city had sought permission from Commissionerate Police for holding Puja and immersion ceremonies.