Many Durga Puja pandals and stalls and various makeshift structures around them still stand on roads and pavements, making them narrow and sometimes completely cutting off the path.
The pandals are not alone. The bamboo scaffolding across the city on which temporary hoardings and banners were put up ahead of the Puja also remain.
The bamboo poles in all these structures are a health scare as water accumulated in their cavities could host mosquito-breeding sites.
On Saturday, The Telegraph found such temporary structures across the city — in Bhowanipore, near Mahajati Sadan off CR Avenue and Taltala, among others.
A pandal on Bakul Bagan Road completely blocked the pavement and half of the road. A banner nearby indicated that it was the pandal of Bhowanipur Durgotsab Samity.
Sandip Ranjan Bakshi, a mayoral council member of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and president of the puja committee, promised to talk to the organisers to get the pandal dismantled soon.
“I will talk to the organisers and ensure that the pandal is dismantled very soon,” he said.
A pandal on SN Banerjee Road, near Taltala, completely blocks a pavement, forcing pedestrians to step on the road. A complete lane next to Mahajati Sadan was blocked on Saturday because of a pandal.
A resident of Ballygunge said pandals partially blocking several lanes around Hindusthan Park and Southern Avenue were yet to be dismantled.
“I drove into a lane off Southern Avenue. After going some distance, I realised that the lane was shut because of a pandal. There were no signs at the head of the lane to warn motorists that one could not drive the entire stretch because of a pandal,” the resident said.
Near Acropolis Mall in Kasba, large overhead across-the-road gates that had been erected before the Puja were yet to be removed even on Saturday. The structures have gobbled up a significant portion on both sides of the road.
Officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), the custodian of the city’s roads and footpaths, said the puja committees were not given a deadline for the removal of pandals and all associated structures. “They were only told to make the roads and pavements clear as early as possible,” said an official.
The bamboo poles used in the pandals and the frames built for temporary banners and hoardings are a threat, said a KMC official. “The bamboo poles have holes on the top that are inaccessible. It rained on Navami and Dashami. There is a possibility of water accumulation in these cavities,” said the official.
“Such holes may be hosting mosquito-breeding sites as it rained on Navami and Dashami. The structures need to be urgently pulled down,” the official said.
A puja organiser said many Durga Puja organisers hold Lakshmi Puja in the
pandals, which is why the pandals have not been dismantled yet.
