Durga Puja, the biggest festival of Bengalis is hardly 70 days away and, already preparations have been started by Jamshedpur Durga Puja Kendriya Samiti to ensure celebrations keeping in view the environmental constraints and requirements. The Samiti is an apex organization that monitors Pujas in the steel city of Jamshedpur and it has set the ball rolling with festivities expected to be held in the second week of October.
This has been reported in
telegraphindia.com dated 27 July 2016.
For a start, the samiti has issued directives to all organizers in Jamshedpur to go in for light-weight idols without the use of synthetic colors - this will facilitate smooth and pollution free immersions. The puja committees have been asked to use natural and environment-friendly colors.
The idol makers have indicated that they can make light-weight and eco-friendly idols but, these will be costly. Normally, traditional materials are bamboo, clay and hay, while the lighter varieties were made of coir, copper wire and plaster of Paris. These need more time to make and there is the cost factor as well.
Another aspect is the concern over inadequate rain due to which the level of water in both the Subernarekha and Kharkai was low. Usually, overflowing rivers help in smooth immersion of idols. This will be another point to keep in mind while making the idols.
Jamshedpur hosts over 300 pujas and is second only to Calcutta in Bengal in terms of numbers. Last year's steel city puja count was 300.
Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org
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