Like previous years thousands of people came out on Sasthi Puja night for Durga Puja pandal hopping, although many of the puja organizers were found to be still busy in giving the last touch to their puja pandals. The city roads remained crowded since the evening and puja revellers were seen making rounds at the puja sites in groups. Families with their children were also crowding the hotels and restaurants even as traffic snarls clogged some busy roads – though it was not so serious at Sasthi night. Markets and shopping malls were also seen doing brisk business.
There are total 554 Puja pandals in the capital city of varied size and budgets. While there are some traditional huge budget pujas, there are some pujas where the organizers did cut down their expenditure this time due to Covid induced economic affects.
While police and administration took adequate measures for security during the Durgaq Puja, there were visible neglect among the people of the Covid restrictions. People were seen largely neither wearing mask nor maintaining required physical distance.
A doctor on condition of anonymity cautioned that there could be surge of Covid infection in the state soon after the Puja celebrations.
“ Government authorities must ensure strict adherence to Covid norms with Puja revellers otherwise we shall face serious Covid rise in near future”, he said.
