Week-long Laxmi puja begins in Kendrapara

Festive spirit has gripped Kendrapara and adjoining areas in Odisha with the week-long Laxmi Puja getting off to a colourful start.
As many as 68 decorative puja pandals with arches have come up in various urban localities. Besides over a hundred other pandals have come up in other parts of the district.
Adequate police arrangement has been put in place to thwart possible breach of law and order as the annual festival commenced yesterday, police said.
However, forecast of cyclonic weather in coming days has put the puja organizers in a tizzy.
"We are spending a lot of money on organising the puja. We are praying to God so that our area is spared from natural calamity.

"Super cyclone had struck on October 29-30 in 1999 when the puja festivities were in full swing. So the weathermen warning has added to our panic", narrated another puja organiser Harilal Agarwal.
"We observe the annual festival with religious fervour. For us Goddess is the harbinger of peace, prosperity and wealth", remarked 45-year-old Shantilata Mohanty, a resident of Madhial locality.