Berhampur has started Durga idol immersion in four artificial ponds created by the Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC), in a municipal effort to reduce water pollution and direct festival activity away from other water bodies.
The temporary ponds have been set up at Ambapua, Gosaninuagaon, Meenakhi Nagar and near Binayak Acharya College. The arrangements follow guidelines issued by the Odisha State Pollution Control Board, according to the report.
BeMC has barricaded and illuminated the immersion sites and deployed cranes to help puja organisers lower idols into the ponds. Sanjukta Rai Patra, superintendent engineer of BeMC, said the facilities were intended to make the process easier for organisers while keeping the sites controlled and secure.
“We have appealed to puja organizers to immerse idols in the designated ponds and not in any other water body,” BeMC commissioner A Sasya Reddy said. The appeal is aimed at ensuring that immersion activity does not take place in unapproved locations.
BeMC mayor Sanghamitra Dalei said the initiative had received a positive response from puja organisers over the years. Around 50 community Durga Pujas are organised by different puja committees in Berhampur, also known as the Silk City, making the management of immersion a significant civic operation during the festival period.
The district administration has also restricted the use of high-sounding DJs during immersion processions. Berhampur sub-collector Avinash Kumar said the procession was conducted quietly. The restriction adds a noise-control measure to the civic body’s arrangements for managing the environmental and public-order effects of the celebrations.
Police made elaborate security arrangements during the nine-day puja, and police sources said no untoward incident was reported during the celebrations. The municipal corporation’s four designated ponds, along with the restrictions on immersion locations and high-sounding music, will remain central to the administration of the immersion process in the city.
