Jamshedpur: The shortage of LPG refills has prompted the Ram Navami Akhara Samitis to shift to conventional cooking methods to prepare bhog for devotees. The committees which have organised Basanti Durga puja cooked bhog with firewood and cow dung cakes on Saptami (Wednesday) and Ashtami (Thursday) and will cook the prasad on the earthen stove on Navami (Friday).“On March 21, we gave a representation to the DC with a request to facilitate the availability of cooking gas at reasonable price to the puja samities, but that did not happen,” said Arun Singh, president, Jamshedpur Central Ram Navami Akhara Samiti.The apex body of the akahra samities requested the district administration to provide five LPG refills to big puja committees which draw large crowds and three cylinders to smaller puja committees. The members of the puja samitis have said that there’s no cut down on the quantity of the prasad due to issues in the supply of domestic gas cylinders.“Bhog distribution to the devotees is a revered tradition observed by the puja samitis. We arranged necessary raw materials for cooking bhog on an earthen stove,” said Nitin Trivedi, president of Tarun Sangh Akhara Samiti (Trivedi Akhara Samiiti), Jawaharnagar Mango.
