Bengalis celebrate Durga Puja with gusto in Visakhapatnam

The sound of dhak, a traditional percussion drum, is heard in the sarbojanin Durga pandals in the city amid Vedic hymns and mantras

After two years, the Bengalis in the city are celebrating the Durga Puja with full gusto and religious fervour.

The sound of dhak, a traditional percussion drum, is heard in the sarbojanin Durga pandals in the city amid Vedic hymns and mantras. The sound of the conch shells is once again reverberating in the pandals.

“We have performed the puja in a low-key manner in the last two years keeping in mind the COVID-19 protocols. But this year we are back with all the festivities,” said Biswanath Burman, General Secretary of Sarbojanin East Coast Railway Durga Puja Committee, which is celebrated in Waltair Kalibari.

Bengali Association is also celebrating the Durga puja at the Kalyanamandapam, which is located opposite GVMC Indira Priyadarshini Stadium in the Old Town area.

“As usual, we are organising bhoj prasad on all the three days from Maha Saptami (October 2) to Maha Navami (October 4),” said the association’s secretary Tapan Bhattacharjee.

This association is the oldest Bengali Association in the city that has been celebrating the Durga puja in Visakhapatnam since the early 1930s.

Durga Puja is also being celebrated by Utsab Cultural Association at AMCOSA and Ukkunagaram Durga Puja Committee at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant’s Kalibari complex.