In view of the upcoming Durga Puja festivities, the Hindu Seva Samiti, Dimapur has issued guidelines for all puja committees to follow. Accordingly, the puja committees have been requested to perform the Durga Puja in a wholesome religious Hindu spirit with good discipline and maintain the decorum so that the religious faith was held high.
The guidelines have called for erecting puja pandals without disturbing public thoroughfare, use of eco-friendly materials and discourage littering and pollutants. The samiti said the puja committees must strictly adhere to the guidelines issued by the Nagaland Pollution Board, use eco-friendly idols, straw structure idols/pandals, avoid plaster of Paris (PoP) as it contained chemicals that were not biodegradable and ensure environment-friendly and natural materials and organic colours to avoid impact on environment.
It also called on the puja pandal to play only devotional songs and music, encouraging playing of drums, cymbals and conchs being part of the culture. The puja committees have been requested to only use diyas/deepaks (earthen oil lamps) in their pandals and mandirs these were eco-friendly, and avoid use of candles that were made of chemicals and spread pollution.
The samiti discouraged use of loudspeakers in the puja pandals that were near hospitals, nursing homes and old-age homes, stressing that use of loudspeakers should be within the permissible limit and must be discontinued after 9 pm.
Calling for keeping a strict vigil to prevent and ban use and consumption of alcohol and any illegal substance, the puja committees have also been asked to immediately inform the district authority in case of any individual or party violating/encouraging or being involved in such an act.
The committees have been further asked to maintain strict vigilance of any unclaimed bag/item of suspicious nature lying in and around the puja pandals and immediately inform the police station concerned to avoid any untoward incident.
As there would be no procession on Vijaya Dashmi this year, the samiti directed all trucks carrying the idols to assemble at the Hindu Immersion Ghat by 9 am where tokens for the immersion would be issued on first-come basis.
All the puja committees would be given 15 cards for idol immersion to be permitted inside the ghat and have been requested to take proper care of their idols till the immersion and cooperate with the volunteers.
The committees have been requested not to bring any type of materials that might cause river pollution and strictly adhere to the guidelines issued by the Nagaland Pollution Board, and keep Dhansari river clean and free from pollution.
All the puja committees have been asked to sensitise their respective members to avoid and prevent such acts that could hurt the religious sentiments and maintain harmony and peace.
The samiti cautioned that any misconduct/misbehaviour/unruliness/disobedience or any party/member found disturbing the harmony and peace would not be tolerated under any circumstances and would be dealt with strictly.
All the puja committees have been requested to give full cooperation with the district administration, police, municipal council, council members and Hindu Seva Samiti to ensure a smooth and joyous conduct of the pujas and immersion. This was stated in a press release by Hindu Seva Samiti district president Sudip Narayan Dutta.