A Durga Puja pandal that resembles a railway station in Jharpada.Picture by Ashwinee Pati
Bhubaneswar, Sept. 16: The municipal corporation has come up with plans to ensure smooth celebration of the Durga Puja here with proper crowd management.
The civic body held a meeting with various officials late last evening and chalked out plans for repairing potholes, get broken street lights working and carry out special sanitation drives in each ward to ensure cleanliness.
The municipal corporation has sanctioned a special budget of Rs 5 lakh for repairing roads in all the 67 wards before Durga Puja.
'The officials have already been put on the job and asked to complete the tasks on time,' said a civic official.
The official in charge of the corporation's electrical section has been asked to conduct a special drive to expedite the repair work of street lights. The city has around 35,000 LED streetlights and another 6,000 are being installed in phases at various places.
The civic body has also decided to dig up four large temporary ponds for idol immersion after the Puja. While two of these ponds will be built on the Kuakhai riverbank on the way to Cuttack, one will remain near Tankapani Sai temple and another by the Daya towards Puri.
'We have decided to increase the size of the ponds this time. We will also construct temporary approach roads and install lights at the immersion sites. The Puja committees will be made aware of the location of the temporary ponds. We will also keep strict vigil on the proper usage of the ponds,' said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.
The ponds will be in place till Kali Puja. More than 200 Durga idols and about 100 Kali idols are expected to be immersed at these ponds during the upcoming festive season. The ponds will be made of polythene sheets in the trenches to ensure there is no leakage and contamination of the soil and river water.
The civic body has also requested the public works department for clearance of the debris from the Bomikhal flyover site since it is impeding traffic on the Cuttack-Puri highway.
The Durga Puja at Bomikhal, which is a big draw, is located near the flyover site.
