Odisha police to deploy 17 platoons for smooth immersion ceremony in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate Police will deploy as many as 17 platoons of police force for smooth conduct of the immersion ceremony in the capital city here tomorrow (October 6).

“Three committees have been formed for smooth conduct of the immersion ceremony. Separate route charts have been issued to the three committees for the procession to carry idols from the pandals to the makeshift ponds dug up on the riverbeds outside the city,” said an official of the Commissionerate Police.

The Commissionerate Police has made arrangements to avoid traffic snarls during the immersion procession. Three Additional Deputy Commissioners of Police would supervise the arrangements for an incident-free immersion ceremony, added the official.

Meanwhile, thousands of people visited the puja pandals in the city here and offered prayers to Goddess Durga on the occasion of Bijaya Dashami today.

The people celebrated the festival with gusto after a gap two years. There were restrictions on public celebration of Dussehra in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic.

This year, as many as 170 puja pandals came up in the city for celebration of Dussehra. The civic authorities have dug four artificial ponds on the banks of Kuakhai and Daya rivers for immersion of idols, sources said.