Carnivals in districts a hit on debut

Carnivals held in all the districts of West Bengal, except Jalpaiguri

MP | 8 Oct 2022 | Kolkata: For the first time Durga Puja carnivals were held in all the districts of West Bengal, except Jalpaiguri, on Friday. Earlier, such a mega event was held only in Kolkata. It started in 2016 in Kolkata but could not be held for two years — 2020 and 2021 — due to Covid-induced pandemic. 

The decision to hold the carnivals in different districts was taken by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after the UNESCO honour. The district carnivals took place on Friday. Huge crowd was seen in Durgapur as different Puja committees performed cultural programmes during the procession. 

It started at Rajiv Gandhi Maidan and ended at Gandhi Mor. Gala carnival took place at Chinsurah in presence of dignitaries like state Transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty, Savadhipati Hooghly Zilla Parishad Sk. Mehboob Rahman and Member of Legislative Assembly Tapan Dasgupta, amongst others. 

Twenty-two Puja committees took part, which started from Karbala More to Annapurna Ghat. A colourful procession was witnessed in Barasat. Women were seen performing traditional dance while others performed Chhau, a semi-classical folk dance of Bengal. 

Meanwhile, no carnival was organised in Jalpaiguri due to the tragic death of eight persons in a flash flood at Mal river on Wednesday evening during immersion. 

Eight out of the 14 people who were injured, have already recovered and returned home while the rest are still in hospital. With the catchment area of the river and its branches being prevalent in Sikkim, Bhutan and even Darjeeling, and with no unusual rain in North Bengal that day; forecast of such an incident was difficult. 

However, the process of ascertaining the exact cause of the flood is being done on a war footing. Unfortunately, there have been misleading reports to defame the local administration and public representatives. 

Attempts are being made to mislead people that the administration did not have adequate measures and that the disaster could have been avoided if it had been proactive. 

Durga Puja carnival was organised in front of the Balurghat Stadium with 20 Puja organisers taking part. South Dinajpur District Information and Cultural department in association with the district administration and police conducted the mega show. Consumer Affairs minister Biplab Mitra inaugurated the carnival by lighting the lamp in presence of District Magistrate Bijin Krishna, Superintendent of Police Rahul De, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr Sukumar Dey, Additional District Magistrate Vivek Kumar, Sabhadhipati of Zilla Parishad Lipika Roy and Balurghat civic body chairman Ashok Kumar Mitra. 

These carnivals were witnessed with certain restrictions from the respective administrations like ban on firecrackers. To make transportation to carnival locations in different districts convenient, the district administration had made arrangements for public transportation, as directed by the state Information and Cultural Affairs department. 

All the districts had taken measures for live commentary of the entire event so that those who had turned up to witness the extravaganza were able to know the names of the respective Pujas and the themes etched to it. Special seating arrangements were made for public representatives, other VIP guests and commoners. Arrangements of drinking water, bio-toilets and emergency medical infrastructure were provided by each District Magistrate. 

 http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/carnivals-in-districts-a-hit-on-debut-495229