Preparations for Durga Puja Carnival gather steam

Last-minute preparations for the Durga Puja carnival are on in different districts of North Bengal. The mega event will be held on Thursday.

In Siliguri, the Municipal Corporation and State Information and Culture Department are jointly organising the Carnival with 12 clubs participating. On Wednesday Police and administrative officials along with Mayor Gautam Deb, inspected last-minute preparations underway for the carnival.

A large police force will be deployed on Hill Cart Road, Lal Mohan Moulick Niranjan Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi More and nearby places. There will be Rapid Action Force (RAF) and Winners teams. 600 police personnel will be deployed. Monitoring will be done through CCTV cameras and drones.

Traffic restrictions will be applicable from the morning of the day of the carnival. No heavy vehicles will be allowed to enter the city from Thursday morning. Traffic will be controlled on Hill Cart Road and Burdwan Road. Traffic on those two highways will be completely closed from 4 pm onwards. All heavy vehicles will be diverted via Bhaktinagar check post through the Ashighar Bypass. On the other hand, vehicles going to Jalpaiguri will ply via Matigara and Noukaghat More. The carnival is of 3-hour long duration.

Meanwhile, immersions were organised for the first time with the help of a hydraulic trolley in Balurghat’s Atreyee Sadarghat. Ashok Mitra, Chairman, Balurghat civic body said: “With the aim of a glitch-free immersion process, we have introduced a hydraulic trolley for the first time in Balurghat.”

“We have introduced this tool perhaps for the first time in North Bengal. River pollution is being checked as the structures are being removed from the river too with the help of the trolley,” Mitra added.

Preparations are on in Jalpaiguri too. After the carnival, the idols will be immersed at King Saheb’s Ghat of the city’s Karla river. The procession will start from PWD More and will end at Kingsaheb Ghat via Babu Para, Club Road. Sandeep Mahata, Chairman-in-Council Member of Municipality said that all the arrangements have been completed at King Saheb Ghat. More than 50 CCTV cameras have been installed for security. Bamboo barricades have been wrapped around the riverbed. Besides adequate lighting, civil defense teams, ambulances, and municipal health department doctors and health workers will be there.

In Cooch Behar, the carnival procession will pass through Biswa Singha Road of Cooch Behar. According to administrative sources, a total of 35 Pujas are participating in the carnival. All the clubs will gather at Rajbari Park. From there they will take NN Road via Meena Kumari Chowpati and BS Road Daspradas Junction to Harishpal Chowpati. The stage has been set up in Harish Pal Chowpati area.

With inputs from Jalpaiguri; Cooch Behar & Balurghat