Cuttack: The Srikhetra Nagar Puja Committee at Tingharia has made a tall record. The puja committee has come up a 50ft high Ganesh idol, the tallest in the city.
Puja committee chief Rakesh Swain said: "The 50ft high idol of Lord Ganesh, having a width of 18ft, is accompanied by a 6ft tall mouse. The idol has been housed in a gigantic pandal that is spaced out over 3,600sqft and is almost 65ft high."
The idol is the tallest one that the city has seen so far, eclipsing the earlier 30-32ft high idols of the lord that devotees saw courtesy Jagruti Club (Chauliaganj), Golden Club (Tinigharia) and Binapani Club (Chauliaganj).
The committee, which is celebrating Ganesh Puja for the last 52 years, has spent around 35 per cent of its budget on the idol. "We will spend around Rs 10 lakh on Ganesh Puja celebrations, which will be an eight day affair this year. Of it, Rs 3.5 lakh has been spent in the making of the idol," Swain said. He said it took nearly a month for more than 10 local artisans led by Gopal Sahu to make the idol using iron rod, bamboos, straw, clay and plaster of Paris.
Puja committee joint secretary Tophan Parida said the gigantic idol was planned to attract more people and the rise in footfalls near the mandap was evident on the first day.
"As part of the celebrations, one quintal of ladoos will be distributed on all eight days," Parida said.
He said chuda ghasa (a delicacy made of starched rice and jaggery) would also be given to people visiting the mandap during the eight days. There will bhajan samarohas in the evenings.
The idol will be there till September 23, the day of ananta brata when Lord Vishnu is worshipped. But the committee has not decided on the date for immersion of the idol. It has also not decided how to immerse the tall idol.
"The huge idol makes it impossible for taking it for immersion in a procession. We will convene a special meeting to decide on the immersion process," Parida said.
Sources said committee members are mulling whether to immerse the idol at the nearby Taladanda canal to use high-power water sprayers.
