AGARTALA, Oct 22 (TIWN): The zeal and enthusiasm for Durga puja can be openly seen among the people with most of the people eagerly taking the chopper ride on Wednesday morning to enjoy a wide glimpse of Durga puja celebration at Agartala. Transport department from Tuesday has launched a helicopter service to give an extra ordinary facility to the people to take an aerial view of the celebrations in and around this state capital. The service, being operated by state-owned Tripura Road Transport Corporation (TRTC), will continue till Friday, the last day of the festivities. The fare for the 25-minute chopper ride is Rs.1400 for adults and Rs.1200 for children below 12 years. It is to be mentioned here that for last few years TRTC was conducting chopper service during Durga puja for puja revelers. The flight is an eight-seater chopper of Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd (PHHL). The fare is subsidised by the central and state government. Pawan Hans, India's lone state-owned helicopter company, has been operating for the past 11 years in the interior areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, with the union home ministry subsidising fares by up to 75 percent. CCTVs (closed circuit television) and metal detectors have been installed near the puja pandals and other sensitive locations.

Paramilitary forces Assam Rifles and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), along with Tripura State Rifles, have intensified their counter-insurgency operations in the terrorist-prone and hilly areas of the northeastern state to foil any attempt at disturbing the festivities.

Over 20,000 security personnel and quick reaction teams besides bomb and dog squads have been deployed across Tripura.

Official said that intelligence networks have been activated. Police pickets have been set up and mobile and foot patrolling initiated.

In a slight increase from last year, around 2,510 communities and about 100 family Durga Pujas, including 1,415 in rural and interior areas, are being organised in Tripura.