Model of an airplane being build at a Puja mandap in Sector VI of Rourkela. Picture by Uttam Kumar Pal

Rourkela, Sept. 24: Durga Puja committees in the city are working overtime to ensure a perfect for Durga Puja.

This year, the Old Durga Puja Committee of Sector-I will celebrate its golden jubilee year. The committee has decided to spend more on decorations and pandal to mark the occasion.

Committee member Suresh Pradhan said they had estimated to spend over Rs 41 lakh on decoration. “We are going to make a replica of the Konark temple out of synthetic fibre sheets. It will cost us around Rs 20 lakh. More than 60 artisans from Barasat of Bengal have been working on the pandal decoration for the past one month. It will be over by October 7,” said Pradhan.

Nearly 104 Puja committees are set to celebrate the occasion at various parts of the town. Every year, Dussehra is grandly celebrated at Koel Nagar, Udit Nagar, Basanti Colony, Civil Township, Bondamunda, Rourkela Main Road and Fertilser Township in the city.

Three Puja committees — Old Station Road, Bondamunda at Sector-C and Railway Colony — generally celebrate the Bengali way. At these places, artisans from Bengal are hired to make the idols.

Telephone Bhavan Puja at Sector-VI is another star attraction this year with the committee deciding to go for an innovative design. They are set to make the pandal look like an aircraft landing at an airport. Every year, the Puja committees here spend heavily on decorations and innovative pandals that attract a large number of people. “Every Puja committee wants to look different and therefore come up with something different. This year, we are going for a pandal that will look like the Buddha temple in Burma and our budget is Rs 14 lakh,” said a member of the Sector-II Puja Committee.