Curtains will come down on the Durga Puja festivities in the city on Friday with a gala procession of idols of the Goddess at Red Road here.
A total of 75 community pujas from in and around the city, all recipients of 'Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman 2019' - instituted by the state government - will be participating in the 'Durga Puja Carnival', officials said.
In the carnival, organised by the West Bengal government, each puja committee will have a tableau and all of them will roll down the Red Road one after another.
A committee's Durga idol along with a colourful installation of its theme will be displayed and each tableau, and will be accompanied by members, dancers/musicians and drummers.
State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her cabinet colleagues and many foreigners, including officials of consulates of different countries, will present on the occasion, a Mayor-in-Council (MMIC) member of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Debashis Kumar, who is in-charge of immersion of idols, told PTI on Thursday.
Invitations have been sent to all consulates, the Minister of State for Cultural Affairs, Indranil Sen, said.
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The guests from various countries have been put up at different hotels so that they could attend the fourth edition of the event, which is aimed at showcasing the amazing creativity and public participation to the world, Sen said.
Kumar who is also the chief patron of Tridhara Sammilani, one of the winners of 'Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman 2019', said that during the colourful procession, dancers, drummers and other artistes of a puja committee will come up with short performances related to the 'themes' of their puja.
Each committee will get two minutes to perform before the chief minister and the dignitaries.
"Our theme in the show will be on saving green. Every puja committee will showcase their theme in the cultural show," Kumar, who is overseeing the arrangements of the show, said.
Soumen Dutta, spokesman of Kashi Bose Lane Puja Committee said, "The theme of our puja this year was on the need of conserving water and the looming threat of water scarcity."
Two podiums, where the dignitaries will be seated, during the two-hour long show, have been decorated with Bankura district's intricate terracotta work.
Seating arrangements have been made for an estimated 20,000 people, an information and cultural affairs department official said.
"Since our idol is made of earth and we follow certain rituals associated with a temple, we had to immerse our idol as per 'tithi' (designated time-frame as per the almanac).
"Therefore we are unable to participate in the carnivcal," the Treasurer of Shib Mandir Puja Committee, one of the winners of the 'Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman 2019', Shankar Ghosh, said.
"We hail the initiative and wish all the best to the other participants," he added.
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