BHUBANESWAR: After Durga Puja, the state government plans to extend financial support to Dhenkanal’s age-old Gajalakshmi Puja to help organisers preserve the festival’s ancient legacy.
The Culture department has planned to provide financial aid of Rs 50,000 to each puja committee hosting the famous 11-day Gajalakshmi Puja. 38 puja pandals host the festival in the district.
A senior official of the department informed that Rs 19 lakh has been earmarked for the purpose. “The financial assistance is aimed at helping the organisers in continuing with the tradition, amid rising costs,” he added.
According to historians, Gajalakshmi Puja was started in the district in 1923 by late Brajakishore Pattnaik, Natabar Debata, Gatikrushna Pattnaik, and a few others at Ganesh Bazaar, which was previously known as Kunja Sahoo Chhak. It had to be stopped for a few years till it was revived by Natabar Debata, Sanatan Sahoo and some other locals in 1943 at Meena Bazaar, then known as Majhigarh.
A few days back, the government had announced that it is contemplating providing financial aid to the oldest Durga Puja pandals in the state. Accordingly, the department is in the process of identifying them to help the committees concerned continue with their tradition of worshipping the ‘Mrunmayee Murti’ of Goddess Durga during Dussehra. “We are expecting an expenditure of `6 crore towards aid for the oldest Durga Puja pandals,” the official added.