Jamshedpur Durga Puja Kendriya Samiti, the apex body which monitors pujas in the city on Friday asked organisers to place orders for idols after the state government issued guidelines.

"We welcome the government guidelines on Puja. We were in a fix in absence of the guidelines. Now, things have become clear regarding the conduct of the festival.Today, we asked the Puja committees to place orders for idols as per the government specification," said Ram Babu Singh, General secretary of JDPKS.

This year’s community puja count for Jamshedpur is 320, the same as last year. No new puja has been added due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the government guidelines issued on Thursday, there shall not be more than seven persons including organisers, priests and support staff present in a pandal.

The pandals or mandaps will be small where rituals could be conducted without public participation.

The mandap shall be covered from all sides to prevent any public view of the idols, permissible height of which would be 4 ft. Puja organisers will have to do away with any theme.

Moreover, decoration by lighting, music and cultural programmes are restricted. Barring the area where the idol is placed, rest of the Puja pandal/mandap shall be open air.

There will be no food stalls around the Durga Puja pandals.