To make the festival more colourful and appealing to visitors, the Jamshedpur Durga Puja Kendriya Samiti and the district administration have decided to take steps to make the immersion procession more orderly.
The administration in association with Jamshedpur Kendriya Durga Puja Samity (JKDPS) has earmarked routes for immersion of idols of the 350 licensed puja samity and has undertaken special measures keeping in view the swelling rivers after heavy rains.
ADM ( law and order) NK Lal said that though there has been no rainfall and the water level has receded still there are enough locations on the river banks where a slight callousness can prove fatal for the devotees taking part in immersion.
The district administration has informed that in order to ensure smooth and incident free immersion of Goddess Durga tight security arrangements have been made and, in this connection magistrates and police officials in adequate number will be deployed across strategic locations.
According to the police seven police stations have been bracketed in the sensitive zone that include Azadnagar, Mango, Pursudih, Baghbera and MGM police station area, among others, that deserve additional focus of the administrative machinery.
“There has been a lot of hooliganism during the immersion procession in previous years. If we can work on the lines of the cultural programme held during the Republic Day parade, our immersion procession can become one of the most coveted events,” said a senior district official.
Apart from chalking out plans for this year, the district administration zeroed down on certain pandals, which had flouted rules during the puja.
Jamshedpur Durga Puja Kendriya Samiti official said, last year, a lot of women and children had to stand on Adityapur bridge to witness the immersion. For the convenience of city residents, arrangements would be made for high-rise platforms and rostrums at ghats, he said.
Tight security arrangements would be made at the river banks of Kharkai and Subarnarekha launch would be kept ready to rescue people in case of emergencies, the police said.
Various puja venues across the city, including the famous ones in Adityapur and Kashidih see a large number of people gathering to seek the blessings of the goddess this morning. An adequate number of policemen would be deployed across the city to streamline the rush of devotees who were headed towards river banks to immerse the idols.
Taking lessons from the past incidents of bikers’ hooliganism during pujas, the district traffic police has also constituted a team of bikers’ police that will keep tabs on the movement of vehicle borne hoodlums during these pujas.
The purpose of the biker’s police team would be to keep an eye on the unruly elements causing nuisance at puja pandals, mostly during evening hours and at night, and prevent petty issues from blowing into a law and order problem, if any.
