BHUBANESWAR: To celebrate the advent of goddess Durga who is worshipped as a symbol of ‘shakti’, the Nayapalli Durga Puja Samiti, one of the major puja committees in the city, has decided to come up with a woman empowerment themed pandal this year.
With the country celebrating passing of the woman reservation bill, there wouldn’t have been a better time to come up with the theme, said senior organising member of the samiti NK Behera. “Today women are leading in every sphere and the same has to be recognised and respected,” he said.
Accordingly, their pandal will showcase the reverence to women and their empowerment with different posters inside the pandal, Behera informed. To go with the theme, the samiti this year has also decided to create a replica of the famous ‘Moti Mahal’, considered to be a gift presented by the king to his queen as a mark of respect.
Around 40 artists from Bengaluru are working since Janmastami to erect the majestic structure at Nayapalli that will be 85-feet-high and 120-ft-wide. Around 15 artists from Odisha are also helping them in the work.
This apart, the samiti has also decided to engage 100 women volunteers to encourage their participation in organising the puja. The women volunteers will have the responsibility of providing safe darshan to devotees. Apart from them, a group of transgender volunteers and male volunteers will also be assisting the samiti in managing crowd and facilitating smooth darshan.
The height of the idol of the goddess will be close to 15 feet. The Mother Goddess bedecked with ornaments will give darshan to the devotees from Saptami morning, samiti members said.They, however, said that free prasad sevan will be organised for thousands of devotees every day from Sasthi to Dashami.
There will also be melody and cultural programme. However, as a mark of respect to administration’s decision, the samiti will avoid use of DJ music.Steps will also be taken to make the event pollution free. Accordingly, non-harmful materials are being used to design the pandal, Nayak said.
