Come 1 September and chief minister Mamata Banerjee will lead a mega rally in Kolkata to mark the “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” status by UNESCO to Kolkata’s Durga Puja while similar rallies will be organised in the districts.
The rally in Kolkata will kick off from Jorasanko Thakurbari and the respective district administration has been asked to select a place and route for holding the rallies after discussion with the Puja committees.
A theme song is being prepared which will be sent to the districts for being played during the rally. The state information & cultural affairs department has released a 17-point guideline on the manner in which districts would organise such programmes to celebrate the occasion.
According to a senior official the districts have been asked to have a reasonable presence of beneficiaries of Lakshmir Bhandar social security scheme and women belonging to self-help groups at the rally. Around 500 to 750 women representatives can take part in the rallies along with the Puja committees.
The committees can plan cultural programmes during the rally and to begin with there should be women playing conches in the padyatra (foot march).
The committees can use their respective banners for the padyatra and 100 lok prasar artists from a district can join the programme.
The students from Class XI and XII, wearing their respective school dresses can also take part in the rally. The use of colourful umbrellas will also be a part of the rally but there should not be any black umbrella.
Banners and logos should be used for the purpose of effective branding.
Miss Banerjee had chaired a meeting with the Puja committees at Netaji Indoor Stadium on Monday and the district committees attended it virtually. She had asked the puja committees to host rallies on 1 September to mark UNESCO’s acknowledgment to Durga Puja.