Most Diwali, Kali Puja devotees followed guidelines across state: IG

Ranchi: The festival of lights and Kali Puja were celebrated across Jharkhand on Saturday in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic but with far more festive fervour than Durga Puja late last month.
People celebrate Diwali by lighting up diyas, colourful lamps, exchanging gifts, sweets and greetings, and also burst firecrackers though with restrictions after the government issued strict guidelines to check pollution and to keep the virus at bay.Markets, however, attracted huge crowds and sweetmeat shops did brisk business.
In the city area, Mahanagar Kali Puja Samiti distributed dry bhog along with sanitizer and face masks to members of various puja organising clubs. President of the committee, Vinay Kumar Singh, said the aim was to carry out social responsibility and create awareness among the masses about the risk of Covid infection.
“We decided to distribute uncooked food among the needy and the poor so that we can share the joy of festivity with them,” he said.
Other puja committees like Cosmos Youth Club of Lalpur built a medium-size pandal and put a cap on the number of devotees to follow social-distancing norms. Devabrata Sen, a member of the committee, said loudspeakers were not used to abide by the government directions. “Though we avoided everything that could have attracted a crowd, traditional puja rituals were organised and bhog was also distributed,” he said.
In Jamshedpur, Lakshmi Puja was organised in a big way at the Mahalakshmi temple located at Sakchi Thakurbari road but the committee followed strict Covid safety norms. President of the Satyanarayan Marwari Thakurbari Trust, Kamal Agarwal, said they organised Diwali with fanfare as it was the first since the opening of the temple.
Meanwhile, police remained alert throughout Saturday, particularly in the evening when people started bursting firecrackers at their homes. Revellers mostly adhered to the norms voluntarily and by 10 pm, there was almost no cracker sound.
IG and police spokesperson Saket Kumar Singh said there was no open violation of the norms anywhere in the state. “People did celebrate Diwali but there was no public gathering and barring a few exceptions, almost all celebrations were within residential campuses,” he said.
There were some instances of joint celebrations in housing societies where the residents share common courtyards and terraces. Amit Verma, a banker living at a housing society in Kanke road, they cannot celebrate the festivities in isolation. “We live in an apartment where none of the16 families has a personal terrace or courtyard. So, our children enjoyed the festivity together,” he said.