Rain, chill fail to deter New Year revellers in Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau:
Bhubaneswar, Jan 1:

Ovrecast skies, chilly weather and intermittent rains failed to dampen the spirits of party animals in Odisha, who thronged hotels, clubs, and other hotspots to usher in the New Year.

‘‘We kept our fingers crossed till the last moment fearing heavy downpour as the weather department had issued warning of low pressure in Bay of Bengal. Mercifully, the rain god listened to our prayers as it didn’t rain hard,’’ said a city-based businessman.

While hotels and clubs made elaborate arrangements to draw huge crowds, event management groups weren’t far behind. Orchestra troupes from Kolkata and Mumbai, renowned DJs and live bands lit up the party fire with the arrival of twilight till the wee hours.

Revellers were regaled with ramp walk by professional models and scintillating on-demand performance of reality show singers.

‘‘I am a member of this club and I celebrate the New Year with my family and friends every year. This year, we were a bit apprehensive. But thank god, it didn’t rain much. We enjoyed the musical performance of the Mumbai singers here. The hospitality has been great here,’’ said a party goer.

The enrollers partook of beverages (alcoholic and other variants), snacks and mouth-watering cuisines to their heart’s content.

Elaborate security arrangements were put in place for an incident-free passage of celebrations. For this, the Commissionerate Police had launched a drive against drunken and rash driving in the Twin City.

Prior to zero hour, 25 accident cases were reported in the capital cityin which 6 persons were seriously injured. By midnight, over 300 drunken driving cases had been registered and Rs 74, 000 collected from them as penalty under Odisha Urban Police (OUP) Act, a senior police official informed.

While over 32 accident cases under Kharavela Nagar, Nayapalli, Lingaraj, Chandrasekharpur, and Capital police stations have been reported, the six persons who were seriously injured were shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, police sources said.

Commissionerate police had intensified patrolling on national highways apart from putting up 28 check posts. Commissioner R P Sharma and DCP Satyabrata Bhoi supervised the vigil in the twin city.

On the other side, picnic spots and the non-vegetarian counters in the capital city wore a desolate look with only occasional visitors. The rain dampened the festive spirits of picnickers as the Met department had predicted more showers from 31^st December.

Plans for outdoor celebrations, a feature of New Year celebrations all over the state, had to be abandoned by some in a hurry as rains threatened to spoil the fun.

“We had planned to go on a picnic. But with rain continuing since the morning, we are now planning to celebrate the New Year in a hotel,” said a youth in Bhubaneswar.

Minati Behera, who had planned to celebrate the New Year with her friends at Khandagiri, said she had now abandoned the idea and decided to confine the celebrations to the safety of the home.