Durga Puja Immersion Carnival marks end of festivities in Kolkata
The Hindu
The event started with a performance by Kolkata Police’s ‘Daredevil’ force displaying acrobatics on motorcycles followed by a performance of over 300 dancers by the dance troupe of Dona Ganguly
The West Bengal Government on Saturday organised a grand Durga Puja Immersion Carnival on the city’s Red Road in which about 100 big ticket community Puja committees participated. The carnival, which was held after a gap of two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was conceived by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2018.
Ms. Banerjee along with her Cabinet colleagues, top officials of the State Government, dignitaries from foreign embassies and consulates were present at the venue on Red Road as the hundred Durga Puja organisers along with the idols and a cultural troupe went past the city thoroughfare with a song and dance celebrating the autumn festival.
The event started with a performance by Kolkata Police’s ‘Daredevil’ force displaying acrobatics on motorcycles followed by a performance of over 300 dancers by the dance troupe of Dona Ganguly. This was followed by the community Durga Puja clubs going past one after the other with cultural performances which included various traditional forms like Chhau dance and folk dance forms from different parts of the country.
From the Red Road, the Durga Puja idols went for immersion to different ghats of river Hooghly. Ms. Banerjee witnessed the ceremony that went on for more than three hours, clapping at the beats of the songs, greeting the artists and on occasions coming down from the stage and meeting the performers. The Chief Minister also joined a troupe of dancers performing a tribal dance form and matched steps with them.
The Kolkata Police had made elaborate arrangements for the immersion carnival. The idols were brought from different parts of the city on vehicles and kept near the event venue to participate in the carnival. About 2,500 police personnel and 1,200 firefighters were deployed at the carnival venue. A notification from the Traffic Department of Kolkata Police stated that in connection with “Idol Immersion Carnival, 2022 Red Road, Khidderpore Road, Lovers Lane, Hospital Road (North Bound) Queens Way, Esplanade Ramp, Plassey Gate Road and Mayo Road will be closed for some time for vehicular traffic on 08.10.2022”.
Similar Durga Puja Idol Immersion Carnivals were held in different district headquarters of the State on October 7. With the Idol Immersion Carnival, the Durga Puja festival concluded in Kolkata.
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