Durga Puja pandal of Jairam Youth Sporting Club in Adityapur being constructed. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey

Jamshedpur, Oct. 5: Durga Puja is just round the corner. But, the annual autumn bonanza, which is a season of celebration, spells trauma for many. The reason: puja donations.

Puja committees are working overtime to rake in as much as they can through ?forced donations?.

For truck owners, businessmen and shopkeepers, the donations are a routine affair.

According to sources, some committees, backed by politicians, are fleecing truck owners, businessmen and shopkeepers under the pretext of collecting puja donations.

The police and CDPC ? the nodal agency which controls the 240-odd puja committees in the city and suburbs ? prefer to ignore than curb the forced collections.

While truck owners have become the target of the JMM cadre of the Hume Pipe puja committee, businessmen and shopkeepers have fallen prey to some puja committees of Kasidih, Tuiladungri and Adityapur.

Some shop owners are also forced to meet the demands of some prominent committees .

?I have already paid Rs 15,000 to three puja committees in Kasidih, Adityapur and Tuiladungri,? said one of the shopkeepers.

Shopkeepers in Sakchi, Bistupur and Jugsalai bazaars also face the same problem.

?About 400-500 local and long-distance trucks pass through the area, which is connected to the national highway. It is compulsory for truck owners to pay donations to our puja committee,? a JMM worker said. JMM legislator Dulal Bhuiyan is the patron of the Hume Pipe Durga puja committee. According to Bhuiyan, however, a major chunk of the expenses is borne by the committee.

CDPC president Tarachand Mohanty told The Telegraph that they have not received any complaints about forced donations.

?We did receive complaints about JMM workers taking donations from truck owners but we did not find anything objectionable,? he said.

?Complaints about forced collection should be supported by documentary proof. We will suspend puja committees collecting donations by force. We had earlier taken action against such offenders,? Mohanty said.