People in thousands lined the roads here to bid farewell to Durga as vehicles carrying the idols for immersion passed through the streets of the city to the designated ghats amid heavy security and traffic regulations.
Pleasant weather brought the curtains down on five days of festivities across the region.
Apart from 800 traffic police, 150 extra personnel were deployed to control the movement of the traffic. Revellers and devotees were not allowed to venture beyond a certain point at the place where the idols were immersed. Only vehicles that carried the idols were allowed to enter the ghat.
More than 100 volunteers carried the idols to one of the three immersion points along the Brahmaputra. Additional lights were installed along the roads and at the makeshift towers at the ghat.
The procession of idols moved along assigned routes to Kachomarighat, Pandu and other designated immersion points in the city.
The sound of drums and cymbals merged with the shouts of “Durga Maa ki jai”. Women smeared sindoor (vermilion) on each other’s faces. The immersion at Kachomarighat started at around 11am and is expected to continue till late Friday night. At Pandu, idols will be immersed on Saturday also.
Friday was declared a dry day by the district administration. Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner Virendra Mittal had appealed to the puja committees and the people to discourage the abuse of alcohol and psychotropic substances during the Pujas, and especially on Dashami.
Puja committees had also responded to a call by the deputy commissioner not to play loud music or use DJs, as had been the trend during the last few years, to maintain religious feelings and decrease noise pollution. Only the traditional music of drums and cymbals, accompanied by naamgaan, marked the procession this time.
A special police control room, fire trucks and an ambulance were ready for emergency situations. “We took all precautions to make sure no untoward events occur and we are also prepared for any emergency,” an official at Kachomarighat said.
Similar arrangements have been made all over the state. In Dhubri, people from across the district joined the residents of Dhubri town in a shobhayatra as the procession wound its way through the major roads of the town before the idols were immersed in the Brahmaputra in front of Dhubri deputy commissioner’s residence.
Ravana dahan, destruction of huge Ravan idols, were held in Golaghat and Rongjuli, among other places in the state.
Additional reporting by Sanjoy Hazarika and Mukesh Kumar Singh