Row Over Durga Idol Height: Puja Committees Of Odisha’s Twin Cities To Meet Today

Bhubaneswar/Cuttack: With the Odisha government ruling out any change in the 4-ft cap on idol height, the puja committees and Shanti committees in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack have called for an urgent meeting on Saturday.

Former BJD MLA and secretary of Cuttack Mahanagar Puja Committee Pravat Tripathy said the delegation of the puja committees of Cuttack had impressed upon Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra and Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena that the height of the idol of the Goddess in no way contribute to the rise in the COVID cases, during the two-hour meeting on September 8.

“We had expected a positive outcome from the meeting and had briefed the media accordingly. We fail to understand the reason being capping the height of the idol at 4 feet,” he said.

He said that the discontentment over the issue is not restricted to puja and Shanti committees and several civil societies and denizens of the twin cities have decided to hit the streets.

“The puja and Shanti committees of the twin cities will have an urgent meeting this afternoon to decide the future course of action,” Tripathy pointed out.

Advisor of the Saheed Nagar Durga Puja Committee Saroj Kumar Patra said, “We will request the Chief Minister to reconsider our request to raise the height of the idol as per the tradition. We will also meet the BMC Commissioner and the Commissioner of Police on this issue with the assurance that we will strictly adhere to COVID-19 guidelines,” he added.

The SRC in a media briefing last evening had said that the state government since the last 18 months has been able to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 to a large extent.

Maintaining that the second wave of COVID-19 is not yet over as the daily cases continue to remain between 30,000-40,000 in the country and between 650 and 1200 in Odisha, he said that a new variant of COVID has once again raised apprehension of a possible third wave.

Justifying the decision of the state government to stick to its August 9 guidelines, the SRC said that the people of Odisha must be aware of what happened in Kerala, where the Onam festival led to the spread of COVID-19.

Also Read: Height Of Durga Idols: Odisha Govt To Decide On Restrictions In Cuttack In Two Days