Rajganj, 30th September: Durga Puja, the biggest festival in West Bengal, is less than a month away. However, the festive mood is much lesser due to the ongoing pandemic. Most of the puja committees have decided to organize puja on a small scale.
Meanwhile, West Bengal government has banned cultural programmes at puja pandals and has directed all organisers to ensure that puja pandals are spacious and are open from all sides, with separate entry and exit points for visitors. The state government has also cancelled the state carnival this year and has banned any fair or carnival near the pandals.
In such a situation, several decorators in the Fulbari-2 Gram Panchayat area are highly concerned as the demand for puja pandals is significantly low this year. They have sought help from the government in this regard.
Bhabesh Chandra Roy, a decorator, stated that due to the pandemic, he is living under severe crisis for the past few months. He added that despite the Durga Puja is just around the corner, he has pandal materials worth 30 lakh rupees lying in the godown.
Meanwhile, Arun Barman recalled getting orders for around 5-6 pandals last year. He said that the situation this year has worsened as he only received orders for two small pandals. He too appealed for government help.
Pandal workers Sunil Chandra Singh and Abdul Tahid stated that they too are unemployed at the moment as the decorators are deprived of work. They complained of living under severe crisis and desperately asked for government help.