AGARTALA, Oct 22 (TIWN): Puja revellers simply thronged at Bharat Ratna club of Usha Bazar to take a glimpse of Vaishno Devi temple on Ashtami night. Huge queue of people was noticed infront of the puja pnadal in the entire night to visit the replica of Vaishno Devi temple at Agartala.

Young to old all were waiting in the long queue with eagerness to visit the temple. Devotes dressed up in their best attires thronged in the Puja pandal of Bharat Ratna club.

Though the people had started thronging pandals since early morning, the rush increased in evening. Families visited pandals and had a great time in worshiping along with enjoying the fun time with the loved ones.

Apart from the Bharat Ratna club, Puja pandals across Agartala city on Ashtami night witnessed a swollen number of crowds who are driven by their faith in Goddess Durga and also to get a feel the artistic splendour of the pandals made by several unsung heroes. The crowd kept on swelling as the day progressed.

Spirituality and enthusiasm filled the air in the city which was evident by people rushing towards the temporary abode of deity with devotion visible in the eyes and prayer in the heart.

With a budget of around 20 lakh, the Bharat Ratna club has put up the replica of Vaishno devi at Agartala. Bharat Ratna Sangha of Ushabazaar, some 6 Km away from the city, is yet another major Durga Puja organizer of the state. The club has erected their pandal with the theme of ‘Vaishno devi’. The pandal is constructed with a height of 280 feet to replicate the Vaishno devi temple, originally located at the hills of Jammu.

Bharat Ratna Sangha has hired a team of numbers of artisans for pandal and idol from Nawadeep of West Bengal led by artisan Nadugopal Das for construction of images of Goddess.  

A group of local decorators were also engaged in pandal decoration as well illumination works.

It is to be mentioned here that Bharat Ratna Sangha has always been epicenter of huge attraction from the pandal hoppers and this year the ‘VaishnoDevi’ has attracted more devotees.

If the devotees were ubiquitous so were policemen in uniform at every nook and cranny to free road from congestion and keep trouble mongers in check.

However, apart from the Durga idols, the traditional and tasty cuisines served by the stall owners around pandal also gathered huge crowd.