Interviewtimes 
The annual celebrated Gajalaxmi puja of Dhenkanal reached its seventh day today, the puja is Celebrated for 11 long days here followed by Visarjan. Since last year due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic the puja is being celebrated in a low-key manner. Gajalaxmi puja in Dhenkanal is quite famous and renowned.
The puja traces back its history from the early 1940’s. This year the puja started from 19th October on the day of Kumar Purnima and the visarjan is scheduled on 29th October. 
The visarjan utsav will be conducted only with ‘Ghanta’ and ‘Sankha’ and the idols will be immersed in the nearby temporary immersion ponds. Everyday the daily puja and other rituals of goddess Laxmi are being performed.
Santosh Sahoo Said, ” Dhenkanal Laxmipuja is very famous, but due to Covid-19 pandemic the celebrations are not huge like the previous years before the pandemic. The puja started from 19th October this year and on 29th October the visarjan will be conducted and again we will wait for the next year for the arrival of Maa Laxmi.”
