GUWAHATI: Assam’s Sivasagar district, the historic capital of the erstwhile Ahom Dynasty, is going to celebrate a plastic-free Durga Puja festival this year as the district administration has initiated all feasible steps to make this year’s puja an eco-friendly one.
A meeting in this regard was held at the Sukafa Conference Hall of office of the Deputy Commissioner on Thursday in Sivasagar to brief the Puja committees about various guidelines for smooth, disciplined and peaceful celebration of ensuing Durga Puja.
Chairing the meeting the Deputy Commissioner Dr. S Lakshmanan extended best wishes to all for the ensuing puja celebrations and requested the office bearers of the puja committees present in the meeting to extend full cooperation and to abide by all relevant rules and regulations for observing the ensuing Durga puja.
He called on all to say a complete “No” to plastic and observe the festival using all kinds of bio-degradable, eco-friendly ingredients and products. He also requested to devise interesting ways in the mandap premises to create public awareness against harmful effects of plastics and polythenes while underlining the need for maintaining cleanliness in puja premises and stressed on engaging volunteers to properly look after the matter.
He informed the meeting that the Sivasagar Municipal Board would provide dustbins in each of the puja pandals and would take care of the proper and timely disposal of garbage. For ensuring fire-safety, he requested the committees to install at least two fire-extinguishers per puja pandal. The officials from District Fire and Emergency Services will provide trainings to the volunteers about the fire-safety and combat mechanism.
The Superintendent of Police Amitava Sinha stressed on prioritizing the security aspects during the festival period. He requested all the puja committees to install at least four close-circuit cameras in their respective premises. He also insisted that proper lighting arrangements should be made in and around the mandaps. He also directed that the puja mandaps should not be left unguarded under any circumstances.
There were 115 puja celebration committees in the district last year including 27 in the historic Sivasagar town.
