DC Laya Madduri to inaugurate Udharbond Kali Bari's Akshardham Pandal on October 2

Committee members of the Udharbond Kalibari Road Public Durga Puja Committee on Saturday held a press conference. The spokespeople of the committee informed that pandal and the idols are almost ready as 80% of the work is already completed. They also informed that the Pandal will be inaugurated by Cachar DC Laya Madduri on October 2, 2019.

President of the Puja committee, Rathindra Chakraborty and General secretary Shankar Roy, along with others were present during the press meet. As announced earlier, this year the theme of the pandal is Delhi’s Akshardham Temple and they are expecting huge turnout from the people.

“The pandal is being constructed with jute. London’s Thames Bridge is also being built outside the pandal. The whole pandal will be illuminated like Aksharadham temple. The idol is being made using different types of grains,” said the committee members during the press meet.

Members further added, to provide a naturalistic feeling, the inside of the pandal will be decked up with colorful exotic birds. Around 300 birds have been brought from outstations and work for placing them inside is going on. Images of those birds were uploaded on social media and that spurred controversy. A section of people questioned the committee members on their decision to cage birds during the festive.

Responding to the criticism, Roy said that the committee did not go hunting for birds. “These are exotic birds which we bought legally from stores functioning legally. We did not go to the local jungles hunting for birds. We have permission to pet those birds in our pandal,” he clarified.

Roy also informed that two individuals have been assigned the responsibility of feeding the birds. “We have got special food for them which suits their pallet,” he added. The committee will return a few of the birds back to the stores they were bought from, while it also plans to sell birds to interested buyers.

The committee members urged that as the pandal is being decorated with live birds, visitors must prohibit the usage of flashlights as that could cause harm to the birds.

The Pandal will be inaugurated on ‘Chaturthi’ i.e. 2nd October by Cachar DC Laya Madduri and SP Mughdajyoti Dev Mahanta. Pandal will remain open for visitors up to Dashami and dismantling will start immediately after that.

Committee members also mentioned that they would distribute prasad in the steel plates to avoid using plastic or thermocol. They further added that no plastic would be used to build the pandal from next year.