A priest worships a five-year-old Kumari on Ashtami at Ramakrishna Mission in Agartala (PTI).

Agartala, Sept. 30: Puja festivities were thoroughly disrupted in Tripura following heavy rainfall in all 15 subdivisions of the state and the capital.

A late monsoon shower, lasting over two-and-a-half hours last night between 8 pm and 10.30 pm, put paid to all hopes of revellers.

The roads of Agartala wore a deserted look, causing heartburn among small traders and food vendors who line up the streets on such occasions.

Around 11.5 mm of rain was recorded last night by the meteorological office. On Mahashtami, too, the sky was overcast since afternoon.

“The monsoon is still short by 12 per cent of its yearly average,” said Dhiman Daschowdhury, a scientist at the meteorological office in Lembucherra.

Mahasaptami was also marred by tragedy yesterday. Madhuri Banerjee, a 32-year-old assistant teacher of Belabor High School in Agartala, was killed in a road accident. Accompanied by her husband Dipak Banerjee, she had been headed for Bishalgarh town, 25 km away, by autorickshaw. In Suryamoni Nagar, a speeding Maruti vehicle collided against the autorickshaw they were travelling in and hurled it into a roadside ditch.

All five passengers were injured but Banerjee was pronounced dead after being rushed to G.B. Hospital in a critical condition. Local people briefly put up a road blockade.

In a separate incident in Dharmanagar town of North Tripura, members of two clubs fought a pitched battle over a minor tiff. Policemen resorted to a mild lathicharge.

“The situation was tense but now everything is under control. We have detained five youths belonging to both clubs,” said deputy inspector-general (north range) Dhurjati Gautam.