After the five-day-long Durga Puja festivities across Odisha drew to an end on Friday, the immersion of idols took place on Saturday without any untoward incident reported from anywhere.
The clay deities along with ornate tableaux were taken in majestic processions for immersion in water bodies.
“The two-day-long immersion festival will continue throughout the night on Saturday and end by Sunday morning,” said a source here at the Director General of Police’s office late on Saturday evening, adding that so far there has been no major law and order situation in any part of the State.
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“At least 40 clay idols in Cuttack city and an equal number in Bhubaneswar have already been immersed by 6 p.m. on Saturday and most of the remaining tableaux have joined the mainstream procession,” said Twin City Police Commissioner Satyajit Mohanty.
He hoped that the festivities would end peacefully by Sunday morning.
Earlier, the Puja rituals ended in the State on Friday evening with Bijoya Dashami celebrations that marked the burning of the effigies of Ravana. Although the effigy-burning ritual was observed only by a few cultural organisations a decade ago, nowadays the practice has spread to several places, even in the remotest pockets of the State.
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Crowd-pullers
The celebrations in Cuttack city began from Tuesday evening with Maha Saptami Puja and lakhs turned up at over 150 pandals. Pandals with decorative tableaux and colourful welcome arches drew the revellers in thousands; those sporting silver tableau and golden crowns were the major crowd-pullers.
The city, known for celebrating Dussehra with a spirit of brotherhood and communal amity, however, took no chances as far as potential trouble was concerned. The police here remain on maximum alert throughout the festival.
Security stepped up
While over 50 platoons of forces from different wings were deployed in the city during the Puja days, the security was beefed up by an additional 10 platoons of the armed forces for the two-day immersion festival. The traffic cops, fire brigade, district administration and the city civic body were also geared up for the biggest festival of the city in the past week.