Kolkata: The fortnight-long Durga Puja festival that began on September 27 came to a closure on Friday with the grand Carnival taking place on Red Road, highlighting Bengals thriving cultural traditions and art. The idols, on their way to River Hooghly for immersion, were mounted in beautifully decorated tableaus in the fourth edition of the mega extravaganza. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took up the initiative to organise the Red Road Carnival in 2016 in an effort to make Durga Puja, the biggest and most colourful festival of the country, to become global. Banerjee along with her colleagues Subrata Mukherjee, Partha Chatterjee, Indranil Sen, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Shashi Panja, Trinamool Congress MPs, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Saugata Roy and Mala Roy were present at the Carnival on Friday. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and his wife Sudesh also attended the event. The Governor also congratulated the Chief Minister for successfully hosting such a grand show. Joy Goswami, Subhaprasanna, Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri, Subodh Sarkar, singers Shibaji Chattopadhyay, Arundhati Home Chowdhury, Saikat Mitra, Sriradha Bandyopadhyay, director Arindam Sil were present among the others. Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha and Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay also attended the event. Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma and Director General of Police Virendra along with state security advisor Surajit Kar Purkayastha also attended the Carnival. Members of various Consulates and 150 foreign delegates including journalists and artists attended the gala show. At least 20,000 people were in attendance. Seventy Pujas which had bagged the prestigious Biswa Bangla Sharad Samman participated in the event which began at around 4.30 pm with Sreebhumi Sporting Club leading the tableaus. MP Nusrat Jahan, her husband Nikhil Jain and singer Abhijeet along with Sujit Bose, Minister of State for Fire and Emergency Services led the parade. The Tornado group of Kolkata Police comprising motorcyclists displayed stunts.

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