West Bengal’s grand festival Durga Puja feels coronavirus heat

Durga Puja, one of the largest annual festival in West Bengal is starting to feel the financial pinch of the novel coronavirus outbreak and consequent nationwide lockdown.

Expecting a sharp reduction in sponsorship of several big-ticket pujas in the state has decided to cut down their budget for this year. Durga Puja is likely to be held in October. According to sources in the state administration about 28000 Durga Pujas take place in Bengal out of which nearly 3000 are located in Kolkata.

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Speaking to DH Sajal Ghosh, the secretary of the Santosh Mitra Square Puja Committee, a big budget puja in central Kolkata said that they are not even sure whether their sponsors will survive the financial impact of the ongoing lockdown.

“ The question here should be whether our sponsors will survive the impact of the lockdown. Then only comes the question of them sponsoring us. When events like IPL are being indefinitely deferred where is the scope of thinking about our puja,” said Ghosh.

Another major Durga Puja committee the BJ Block Durga Puja in Salt Lake on the eastern fringes of the city has put all their plans for this year on hold. The puja committee secretary Subhankar Basu said that the only thing they are sure about is the sharp reduction in this year’s budget.

Apart from the budget cut they are totally clueless as to how the situation will be when the lockdown is finally lifted.

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“We have put all our plans on hold. It is impossible to decide anything before we get a clear picture of the situation. Until then everything is uncertain for us,” said Basu.

One of the oldest Durga Pujas in the city, the Mudiali Club has decided to slash its budget allotted for the making. The Durga Puja which will complete its 86th anniversary this year has decided to construct the pandal themselves instead of hiring a theme artist.

“We are making our plans keeping in mind that there will be less sponsorship this year,” said Manoj Sahu, secretary of the Puja Committee.

Several other puja committees have decided to cut down on their budget to provide financial help to the needy.