Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, Sept. 26: Intermittent but heavy rainfall lashing the twin cities for the past few days has left Durga Puja organisers worried.

The ground-level work has got delayed at the major pandals across the city because of the rain.

Old Station Puja Committee president D.K. Jena said the heavy rain in the city had delayed the construction of the pandal structure. "The rain has hampered the work as workers find it tough to tie the bamboo pillars," he said, adding that wet bamboos gathered moss and got slippery due to the rain.

The Old Station Puja pandal, known for its cultural programmes, is being built on the theme of Bahubali this year. Jena said that although the weather department had predicted rain till September 29, if it continued, the problem would worsen. He said the committee members were wary of delay in the colouring process of the clay idols that would start in the next four days.

"It will get tough to colour the idols as they take time to dry up. If the rain continues, we will have to adopt alternative means to dry the idols," Jena said.

Jharpada Puja Committee president S.C. Jena said the rain was a cause of concern for the workers, who got less time to work on the pandal structure.

"We will have to double our efforts to ensure that the pandal gets ready on time," he said, adding that the decoration and idol colouring would get delayed if the rain continued. The Jharpada pandal is being designed as Maya Mahal this year. Around 60 craftsmen from Bengal have been working on the pandal for the past 45 days. The pandal, 80feet high and 120feet wide, will have two entry points and four exits, and the total cost is expected to exceed Rs 40 lakh, said Jena.

The Saheed Nagar Durga Puja pandal is a permanent venue for the Puja. Saheed Nagar Puja Committee secretary Narayan Mohapatra said the work on construction of the structure outside the venue to accommodate devotees had got delayed because of the intermittent rain.

"We are confident of getting the work done on schedule provided the rain do not continue longer than September 29," he said. The pandal this year is being designed on the model of the Swaminarayan temple in Gujarat.

On the other hand, the Durga Puja organisers in Cuttack are now racing against time to complete the groundwork for decorating the mandaps - that has taken a back seat in the past one week. The construction of the pandals is yet to start in several parts of the city because of the low-pressure induced rain.

Though most of the major Puja organisers, including the ones at Choudhry Bazar, Seikh Bazar, Ranihat, Chatrabazar, Badambadi, Chauliaganj and Khannagar, have permanent mandaps, a majority of them still observe the festival in makeshift pandals.

Now, the organisers are readying themselves to come up with alternative measures to dry the clay idols in their respective pandals.

The Durga Puja will be observed in 156 pandals in various parts of Cuttack.

"Though four days are still left for clay-colouring to be taken up, we are hopeful that the weather will improve in the next couple of days," said Chauliaganj Puja Committee secretary Niranjan Sahu.

Khannagar Puja Committee secretary Prafula Sahoo said the process of setting up the gigantic welcome arches had been delayed due to the bad weather conditions. "The rain so far has played a spoilsport. But, we hope that things will improve in the next couple of days and the Puja committees will be in a position to host it as planned," said Sahoo.