Hailakandi Administration urges Puja Committees to go eco-friendly and plastic free

The Hailakandi district administration has asked the puja organising committees to go for eco-friendly and plastic free Durga Puja this season.

A meeting was convened by the district administration with various puja committees, representatives of political parties and prominent citizens on Thursday.

Deputy Commissioner, Keerthi Jalli appealed to the puja committees to celebrate Durga Puja in an eco-friendly way and to make it plastic free to keep pollution in check. She also requested everyone to ensure a smooth and peaceful puja and to maintain harmony and brotherhood.

Superintendent of Police, Pabindra Kumar Nath asked the puja committees to ensure installation of CCTV cameras in puja pandals for better vigil and security for an incident-free Durga Puja. Nath also asked them to have in place an emergency contact number to report any incident. The SP also urged the puja organisers not to play objectionable songs during the grand festivity.

The puja committees were also asked to make proper provision to tackle a fire mishap and to make arrangements for barricades and separate queues for men and women as well as entry and exit points in pandals. Making provision for adequate parking spaces in nearby vacant places for convenience of pandal hoppers, pedestrians and commuters, regulating use of loud speakers, immersion of idols, maintaining cleanliness during and after puja and deployment of security forces also came up for discussions.

The district administration also asked the puja organisers to follow the instructions as laid down by the administration for peaceful and hassle-free conduct of the ensuing festivity. The puja committees were directed to apply for necessary permission and deploy sufficient numbers of volunteers at each pandal and submit the list of volunteers to the nearest police station for verification and necessary clearance.

The Deputy Commissioner directed the officials of PWD to immediately repair some of the roads in Hailakandi town for the convenience of pandal hoppers and commuters alike.

District Development Commissioner, Madhumita Choudhury, Additional Deputy Commissioner, RK Dam, Executive Officer, Hailakandi Municipal Board, Prodip Timung and officials of concerned departments were present in the meeting.