Kolkata witnesses3rd edition of Durga Puja carnival

Kolkata witnessed the third edition of its mega Durga Puja immersion carnival on Tuesday with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and several other cabinet ministers in attendance.

This year 75 Durga Puja committees participated in the event, a brain child of the chief minister.

Starting at around 4.30 pm the grand Durga idols along with those of the family members of the goddess were paraded on trucks at the city’s Red Road, a key arterial road in Kolkata.

Every Durga Puja committee was given one and half minutes time to put a brief performance.

The first puja committee of the parade was the Sree Bhuni Sporting club, a big ticket Durga Puja in North Kolkata.

This year the Durga Puja has chosen Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh Fort as its theme.

The pandal was modeled on the fort, drawing inspiration from the movie Padmaavat. The organisers of the puja also put up a brief dance performance in traditional Rajasthani attire.

It was followed by Ekdalia Evergreen Club of South Kolkata. Known for its adherence to tradition, the Durga Puja had built its pandal resembling the Brihadishvara Temple in Tamil Nadu.

Other prominent Durga pujas such as the Ballygunge Cultural Association from north Kolkata also took part in the carnival.

A smiling chief minister was seen responding to the greetings by performers.

She was accompanied by the state’s Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, Home Secretary Atri Bhattacharya, Minister of Power and Non- Conventional Energy Sources Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay along with several other senior government officials. Several foreign tourist also attended the carnival.

According to Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials the event witnessed a gathering of more than 30,000 spectators.

“We have made sitting arrangements for 30,000 spectators. But most likely the gathering will be much larger,” Debasish Kumar, Mayor in Council (Parks and Gardens, Sports, Advertisement) of KMC told DH earlier in the day.

Large scale security arrangements were made for the carnival. More than 2,000 police personnel were deployed at the venue alongside bomb squads and sniffer dogs.

“Drones will also be used for security purposes,” said Kumar.