Temshi/Henlly
DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 20
As the festive sound resonates and revelers rejoice this Durga Puja, Dimapur is going eco-friendly as young and old are out on the streets with the message focusing on cleanliness and safety during festival.
Men and women clad in their best outfits rode on their two wheelers along Dimapur streets and stopped at each Puja pandal to spread the message of ‘Clean and Green Dimapur’.
Dimapur Bongs, an organization formed four months ago through the social media Whatsapp with the motto “Serve the people” had a special idea to celebrate this Durga Puja in Dimapur- spread the message of clean environment. The group at present has more than 700 members who are actively involved in serving the people of Dimapur in every small possible way.
The event was graced by Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) CEO H Atokhe Aye who also inaugurated the Spread of the Significant Message at T.K.Complex Puja Pandal Dimapur. Atokhe Aye extending his Puja greetings to the Hindu community applauded the unique initiative of mobilizing the youths on two wheelers to spread the message of clean environment. He maintained that Puja pandals to be a central place for spreading message of unity and encouraged to respect, honour and recognize each other’s religion. He therefore called on the community to be a model of ‘unity in diversity’ and with understanding create peace. The congregation in around 50 two-wheelers accompanied by the DMC CEO rode through the dusty and bumpy roads of Dimapur taking halts at various Puja pandals including Xuvihe Colony Pandal, Chatteswari Colony Pandal, West Yard Pandal of Young Association, West Yard Durga Mandir Pandal, Kalibari Mandir and PWD Colony Pandal handing over the significant message pamphlets to each organizer with a belief that the noble initiative will be put into practice.
The significant message of Dimapur Bongs is ‘Respect Yourself, Respect Others, Respect Your Environment, Please put your litter in the bin’, ‘Green City, Clean City’, and ‘Avoid throwing waste inside drains and we should think twice for our tomorrow’.
In the late evening, Atokhe Ayemi also visited the Durga Mandir Pandals in New Market and other areas.
Going around the city, one can see crowded market places of Dimapur where all young and old are busy shopping and preparing for the celebration. Puja special offers through hoarding, pamphlets and leaflets of business establishments attract more customers this season.
Dimapur, being the commercial hub of Nagaland with multi-religious and multi-lingual society, the populace enjoy more degree of freedom in all aspects of life. This year’s pandals are more as compared to previous years and competitions are organized to award the best pandal.