The festive season has got underway and after the celebration of Durga puja and Laxmi puja, countdown for the three-day long Diwali festival at Tripureswari temple complex in Udaipur has been gaining momentum with every passing day.

Giving details of the festival preparedness, Matabari Mela Committee’s (Diwali Mela-2023) Chairman and local MLA Abhishek Debroy speaking with media said that a large number of police and other security personnel would be deployed in the entire premises of the fair complex.

Giving details of the arrangements of the two day long Diwali festival and fair, Abhishek Debroy  said , about 500 volunteers will also be deployed in the fair complex along with police and security personnel. Many close circuit cameras (CCTV) would be installed in the entire fair complex. Different departments of the state government are working round the clock to make the fair a grand success like previous years, said Debroy.

He said on November 10 next the Diwali festival and fair will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha on Sunday evening (November 12) in presence of MPs, ministers and other dignitaries.

He said Diwali Mela will be organized from November 12 to 14th at the premises of Mata Tripura Sundari temple and during the festival days, exhibitions, cultural events and ‘Kalyan Arati’ will be performed at Kalyan Sagar Lake.

He said that over 100 stalls would be allotted to the traders for setting up their business huts through an open lottery and allotment of plots for shopkeepers will be distributed before the fair. During the fair days on November 12 to 14 the Information and Cultural Affairs (ICA) and Tribal Welfare departments will organize various cultural functions.

He said that all the departments of state government will open stalls in festival premises to exhibit developmental works.  He said, several giant generators would be installed in the festival complex as back up for power failure. Though there are fewer chances for load shedding during the festivities of light and adequate numbers of ambulance and fire fighter vehicles will also be kept in readiness in the fair premises.

The entire temple premises have been illuminated with special kinds of lights by a famous decorator. Apart from these, the festival committee has also set up other basic amenities like toilets, rest places etc for the devotees. The Mela committee appealed to people to contribute their best to make the festival a grand success.

Meanwhile, police in Gomati district said that tight security arrangements have been made in the entire Mela premises just two days before the festival. Adequate number of police and TSR personnel with other paramilitary forces have been deployed in entire Udaipur town along with plain clothes security personnel, said police adding that number of watch tower were set up and several numbers of close-circuit cameras  (CCTVs) will also been installed in and around the temple to monitor security conditions.

Police with dog squads will carry out search operations in various parts of Udaipur and festival areas.

In addition, several drop-gates have also been installed for security covers and a bomb squad team would work round the clock, said police.

Police added that    several parking areas have also been identified to avoid traffic jams. Police hoped that compared with last year, this year more devotees would throng the temple premises.