Tag: Bijoya Dashami

It was a beautiful sight at Hooghly – on the east bank at Baje Kadamtala Ghat. It was height of environment friendly immersion. Festivities continued on immersion day in Kolkata without polluting the river, thus obeying the norms laid down by the Calcutta High Court.

At Baje Kadamtala Ghat, a Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) floating crane was working overtime to pick-up the idols before they get fully dipped. There was a host of dedicated KMC employees, segregating -recyclable and non-recyclable materials for final disposal.

Even a score of foreign tourists, who were busy clicking the “amazing sights,” were impressed by the efforts to keep the river clean. “It is indeed magical sights and sounds. The efforts of the civic body to save the river are appreciable,” said Arnold Smith, a tourist from Amsterdam, who came to city to experience the festivity.

Immersions are conducted in Kolkata in the presence of a crane mounted on a barge on the Hooghly, two other cranes on the banks of the river, four pay loaders and a full team of Kolkata Municipal Corporation on each of the 13 most-visited ghats.

Elaborate security arrangements by Kolkata police as well as civic authorities are in place at various ghats of the river Hooghly to ensure that the immersion of Durga idols passes off peacefully.

Officers of the Kolkata Police are manning the riverfront to prevent onlookers from getting too close to the river. Special vigil is being maintained from a watch tower near the ghat.

Cranes have been deployed at certain ghats to lift and extricate the remains of idols from the river to avoid pollution.

Additional lights have been put up at the immersion ghats and the flowers, levers and metallic weapons are being dumped in separate vats to avoid polluting the river.

Other than maintaining law and order during immersion, the teams of river police and disaster management groups patrolling the Hooghly river. Closed-circuit television cameras have been installed at certain ghats.