The beating of the drums greeted Goddess Durga today on Maha Ashtami as hundreds of drummers took part in a competition organised by the Central Puja Committee at Rilbong puja pandal.
The dhaki competition organised in memory of Dr Subrata Das and Shiv Kumar saw dhakis from 12 Durga Puja pandals performed.
In the individual category, Biswajit Kinner and group of Rilbong Durga Puja pandal won the competition and took away a Gold Medal and a cash prize of Rs 7000. The second and third winners are Sunil Das of Kench’s Trace Durga Puja Committee and Maniram Das of RR Colony Saradiya Utsav Samiti respectively.
The winners of the Shiv Kumar memorial trophy for the group category are the dhakis of Rilbong Dura Puja pandal as the champion and Kench’s Trace Durga Puja Committee in the second place and RR Colony Saradiya Utsav Samiti third.
The CPC said for the first time two female dhakis from Harisabha and Oakland Durga Puja committees also participated in the competition. They were also awarded Rs 3000 each in appreciation.
CPC, Meghalaya awarded cash prizes of Rs 1000 to all dhakis in appreciation of their participation.
BJP MLA AL Hek along with CPC president Naba Bhattacharjee and others were part of the event.
Greeting the crowd, Bhattacharjee said that after two years they are once again able to gather and celebrate this Drum Beat competition.
Stating that the idea of organising the competition is to spread a message of harmony and to beat the drums of harmony, Bhattacharjee also encouraged devotees to come out in large numbers on the immersion day to participate.
