Gorgeous pandals and colorful illumination attracted hundreds of people to the Laxmi puja pandals in the own today. Thirty-eight bazaars are organizing the puja this year.

Almost al puja committees will perform rituals which would be completed by Wednesday morning. The other attraction of the festival is the gramshree mela where hundreds of stalls are put up for rural products. The district administration has made adequate security arrangements for the puja which will continue till October 24.

Twelve platoons of police personnel have been deployed in three sectors with each headed by a deputy superintendent of police besides 200 constables, traffic havildars including armed police and 12 inspectors.

As many as 5,000 vendors from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhatisgarh and some districts of Orissa, have arrived at the place to set up their roadside stalls.

According to Tourist Department sources, Laxmi puja coincides with Dhenkanal Mahotsav and National-level gramshree mela which attract about 10 lakh visitors from across the country.