A pledge to ascend. NTFN Suchetana Sharad Samman has been instituted this year, in association with The Telegraph Salt Lake, with the aim to arouse the consciousness of and uplift New Town.
Social and environmental awareness and activity were the twin touchstones by which housing complexes and blocks of New Town were tested during Durga puja this year. The award is a mark of appreciation for puja committees that worked for the betterment not only of its residents but of society as a whole round the year.
“Covid has taught us that it is necessary to look after not only myself and my family but also the family next door and the gate-keeper’s family. Puja is a time when we can connect with the most people. So we planned to create a Durga puja platform to share and appreciate good ideas and actions. The puja committees have participated with enthusiasm. We will spread the best practices from the top 10 organisers. If we can learn from the best, we will all be enriched,” said Sudipta Mukherjee, trustee board member of New Town Forum and News (NTFN).
According to NTFN vice-chairman Ankur Roy Choudhury, entries were received from 47 applicants. “On the basis of their written statements, 36 were picked by our selection committee. On Saptami and Ashtami, the judges went around the pujas for assessment,” he said.
On Navami, a team, along with The Telegraph Salt Lake, visited the top 10 pandals, in the company of eminent New Town residents. A prize-distribution ceremony is scheduled to be held in winter. The puja committees share the socially and environmentally responsible steps they took that earned them the recognition.
BD Block
Year: 6th
Budget: Rs 2.5 lakh
Activity roster: “We organised a health check-up camp on Panchami and distributed blankets among the impoverished during the Pujas. Since Sashthi, we are accepting registration for organ donation from visitors. On Dashami, we served a sit-down meal to the families of all building caretakers.
“Before the pandemic, we tried to raise awareness in the local market about ills of plastic bags. Once the pandemic started, we procured oxymeters, an oxygen cylinder and a concentrator, and built a medicine bank as support to the Covid-affected. When residents got infected, a team used to wish them good morning, asking how they were and if they needed anything. Once they got well, they said that daily enquiry boosted them mentally,” said Parthasarathi Adak, puja committee secretary.
“Our young people took care of the elderly in the block,” endorsed Siddhartha Banerjee, who undertook an anti-plastic drive across the block in 2019 and is active in organising plantation drives.
Sunrise Point
Year: 12th
Budget: Rs 4 lakh
Activity roster: “The pandal was decorated by residents. We sourced Puja materials from our local vendors. We helped out an electrician’s daughter in enrolling for an engineering course. We handed over Rs 50,000 to the family of a security guard who died on duty. We made our youngsters plant trees so that they care to maintain them. We put up posters against plastic use and we inspired residents to take bags along when they go shopping. Our youngsters painted bags with environment-friendly slogans and distributed them. We set up a solar panel on the roof which offsets a bit of our power consumption. We have plans to install more panels. We are trying to set up two electric vehicle charging station. Our residents may not have any but the stations will inspire many to buy e-vehicles. During Covid, our youngsters supported us, the elderly. We have held two blood donation camps and a vaccination camp, extending the paid facility to our support staff. We collected relief materials during Amphan and Yaas and handed over to Ramakrishna Mission (RKM). We are getting ready to support a students' home by RKM,” said Subrata Dasgupta, a member of the Board of Managers and a former president of the puja committee.
Puja underway in the permanent structure at Alakai
Picture by Basudeb BeheraAlakai Cultural and Welfare Association
Year: 10th
Budget: Rs 6.5 lakh + Rs 3 lakh (donation)
Activity roster: “We have created a permanent temple-like structure where the idols are placed during Puja, thereby saving us expenditure on pandal construction. We use that money for various social causes. During lockdown, we provided ration over six weeks to 140 underprivileged people as well as milk for children. We held a blood donation camp. Later, thanks to NKDA, we managed to vaccinate 800 residents and underprivileged people, including workers in the local guesthouses. Every year, we do some social service, giving ceiling fans, dresses, books and almirahs to set up a library, bedroll kit and musical instruments over the years to a couple of orphanages, Universal Smile and Soujatya. We installed solar power in 2017. We plant trees every year. This year, we have already planted 56 trees. We have earmarked space on our premises for a seasonal flower garden. On Panchami, we gave out new clothes and food packets to 400 underprivileged people. We are in talks with an organisation to start a medical dispensary with free medicines. We also have plans to engage residents in coaching underprivileged children,” said Anjan Sarkar, general secretary of the association.
Air Chief Marshal (retd) Arup Raha felicitates CE Block office-bearers
Picture by Basudeb BeheraCE Block
Year: 6th
Budget: Rs 4.5 lakh
Activity roster: “We are trying to ban plastic in our block. We have gone door to door to raise awareness about segregation of waste. Now if someone fails to properly do the segregation there is such strict monitoring that we take a picture of his litter and post it in our block’s social media group for rectification. We spray insecticides, clear wild growth and undertake plantation,” said puja secretary Manik Chatterjee. “We had created a Covid team with two resident doctors and volunteers that helped with treatment, food delivery and hospitalisation,” added president Tarak Baran Mukherjee. “The Covid-affected just had to drop a bag tied to a string from the verandah for us to provide them required medicines. Payment was not an immediate concern,” added secretary Alok Das. The block, he pointed out, has also donated Rs 25,000 to Bodhipeet, an orphanage in Salt Lake.
Sidelight: When Debu Das, the puja’s regular dhaki, died two years ago at the age of 35, his family turned to the puja committee. It is with the monetary help the block sent that his daughter Shyamali’s marriage could take place, said Bijay Das, the elder brother of the deceased who now plays dhak here.
Sampoorna Tritiya
Year: 3rd
Budget: Rs 4.25 lakh
Activity roster: “We are a new complex of just 70 families. We planted a lot of trees right after our society was registered in 2019. We lay emphasis on waste segregation. We have a ladies wing called Nari Shakti. We sponsored food packets for the jobless in the drive undertaken by the Eco Park police station during lockdown. We collected clothes to distribute in relief during Amphan. We organised a vaccination camp and sponsored vaccines for our household help,” Shyamal Giri, secretary, Sampoorna Tritiya Apartment Owner’s Association, said.
B.K. Saha, association president, shared plans for water management. “We will install a system next year to cut off supply once the overhead tanks overflow. We plan to start water harvesting too. We will replace our streetlights with solar-powered ones,” he said. “I propose to set aside a part of our income like big companies do as corporate social responsibility. We could use the fund to sponsor the education of poor children,” said puja committee president Prabir Mukhopadhyay.
Greenwood Park
Year: 16th
Budget: Rs 5 lakh
Activity roster: “We decorated our pandal with jhuris and kulos made by our dhaki families. We bought coconut fibre dolls from the Lambadi tribal women of Tamil Nadu and singing bowls from the Northeast through NGOs. We appeal to all to gift handicrafts in place of branded items as gifts.
“We’ll make compost from the flowers we used in the puja. Residents with green thumbs are encouraged to create compost at home for use in their own terrace or balcony garden. Others hand it over for our gardeners to use as compost in the trees in the complex.
“We arranged for life certificates of pensioners in our complex when they could not go to the bank last year and arranged for groceries for senior citizens and medicines for the Covid-affected,” said Sukanya Basu, a founder member of the puja committee.
“Last year, when a big fire broke out in an adjoining village, we collected clothes for them overnight, bought sanitary napkins and panties for women and diapers for babies. Muri, cakes and biscuit were distributed among them at the school where they were rehabilitated,” she added.
Sidelight: The two dhakis on duty had come from Gosaba in the Sunderbans. “When the two cyclones struck, both times we had informed the committee over phone about our distress. They sent monetary help to the tune of Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 in our bank accounts. That helped sustain the 100-odd families of dhakis in our village,” Sanjay Das, one of the dhakis, told The Telegraph Salt Lake.
BE Block
Year: 5th
Budget: Rs 2.20 lakh
Activity roster: “We held a blood donation camp in 2020 and distributed bags among residents to stop the use of plastic bags. We are sanitising the block regularly. We monitor waste segregation. We raised funds to treat a tenant who fell ill. We arranged for vaccination of 140 domestic workers in association with NKDA. We distributed clothes to 65 people on Sashthi,” said Pulak Kumar Dey, block secretary. The pandal was decorated with natural items by block youngsters.
PS Ixora residents talk about their activities in presence of former DIG, Border Security Force, Samir Kumar Mitra (extreme right)
Picture by Basudeb BeheraPS Ixora
Year: 8th
Budget: Rs 4 lakh
Activity roster: The housing set to be connected to the NKDA-serviced area of New Town by a bridge under construction has taken up a project they have named Share Your Smile. “This is a round-the-year initiative to sponsor dress, books and stationery of children from nearby villages who come at the start of the year to register their names. We also offer them a meal for a day. This year, 200 kids have registered. We also collected old clothes to donate in relief work in the Sunderbans and Jhargram. We got our domestic staff vaccinated. Though NKDA does not collect garbage from us, we segregate the garbage on our own before depositing it with them. We also undertook plantation drive along the canal bank to add to NKDA’s effort. We have started rain water harvesting on a small scale,” said Parimal Ghosh, secretary of PS Ixora Residents’ Association. Added puja secretary Moumita Basu Roy Chaudhuri: “Our pandal has been decorated by our residents with Mandala and Warli art. We also felicitated senior citizens with saplings on Sashthi.”
Pulmonologist Sushmita Roy Chowdhury felicitates Uttara residents
Picture by Basudeb BeheraUttara Prathama & Dwitiya
Year: 12th
Budget: Rs 4.5 lakh
Activity roster: “We used to hold art and craft workshops for our children which stopped for the pandemic. This time six kids, led by Siona Paul and Ishan Basu Mallik, decorated two pillars on both sides of the goddess with disposable items. A total of 19 underprivileged children, who get training from the NTFN education cell, painted alpona in front of the pandal. We held an Anandamela on Mahalaya where we showcased handicraft created and garments stitched by these kids at a stall. It got good response. We gave them new clothes for puja and food packets on Ashtami and Dashami,” said Shamik Aich, treasurer, Uttara Prathama Apartment Owners Association.
Sukdeb Basu Mullick, puja committee treasurer, pointed to the variety of fruit-bearing trees planted in the complex. “A mango tree was hit by lightning, so we planted three saplings in compensation on Independence Day. We could offer pomelo and wood apple from our orchard as prasad for puja. Our bananas are distributed among residents round the year. The Uttara folk music group, helmed by Satyaki Haldar, has been formed this year. We do awareness camps regularly. One on Covid took place just after lockdown ended.”
A resident showcases the complex’s activities
Picture by Basudeb BeheraNew Town Heights
Year: 7th
Budget: Rs 7.75 lakh
Activity roster: The puja with a sanitising gate and a guard checking body temperature at the pandal entry had put up a list of Covid dos and don’ts. “We gave clothes, medicines, toys, household items and food to Bodhipeet, a home for mentally challenged orphans in Salt Lake. We also sent Ashtami bhog for them. We distributed saris among destitute women. At the height of Covid, we had a support team for residents and offered tea and snacks to police personnel on duty at the Covid safe house at NBCC Square. We held two vaccination camps for residents and support staff,” said Arpan Boral, a puja committee member.
“On Ashtami, we invited 12 girls from the neighbouring Akanda Kesari village and gave them gifts. They had lunch here. This was our way of celebrating Kumari puja minus rituals,” said festival committee president Anasua Sarkar.
AE (Part 1)
Unlike some other big budget pujas, AE (Part 1) lived up to its reputation. To abide by the state government’s guidelines, they placed their artistic idol in a way that visitors could see it from the road. And they splashed their colourful theme all over the approach road.
Different stages of Durga puja were depicted in paintings and sculptures on one side while the other was a mosaic of mirrors.
“Last year, I didn’t leave home during the Pujas but this time I’ve ventured out to see a few renowned ones. AE (Part 1) is the best puja in Salt Lake this year,” said Arijit Datta, who had come from Santragachhi with a friend.
Block secretary Supriyo Chakraborty said footfall was way more than last year. “But of course, many elderly people were still scared to venture out of homes. But we invested in an open-air pandal that people could view while walking past the idol and it paid off.”
Stalls outside sold all from biriyani and juice to ice cream and pickle. The phuchka seller was barely visible on Navami evening, as he was gheraoed by no less than 15 customers.
“I sell rolls here round the year and make Rs 1,000 to 1,200 a day. But these Puja days I’m selling nearly five times as much. The crowd too seems almost like it was in 2019,” said a delighted Amal Kumar Das.
AK Block
Visitors here were not allowed to enter AK Park and so they crowded around haphazardly at the gate clicking pictures of the beautiful idol. The pandal was a blown-up model of the wooden throne that household idols are placed in.
Police estimated around 900 people here on Asthami night and 800 on Navami. “Crowds are thick, particularly between 7pm and 2am,” said one of the security guards at the entrance, without sharing his name. “But it’s sad how many people are still moving about without masks. We are finding about one such in every 50 visitors and asking them to put on their masks.”
“We are very satisfied with the footfall. We did not raise barricades and narrow the passage which would have slowed down the pace. People could walk along the wide road surrounding the park at leisure and watch the idol clearly from there. We had steady visitors till 2am. The highest footfall was on Navami,” said general secretary Aritra Ranjan Sen.
He surmised that on the last night, when the Sreebhumi pandal was shut to visitors, people entered Salt Lake from the Kestopur side.
“The total count would be three to four times of last year. The joy was back on people’s faces, replacing the fear of last year,” Sen added.
AJ Block
Being located close to the 206 Footbridge and being part of the AJ-BJ-AK triangle of big ticket pujas, this block drew ample crowds. But their vast open-air pandal prevented crowding.
“Our mandap was about 2,200sq ft and we allowed only about 30 people in a time so it was never congested,” said media convener Moinak Dutta. “Still we had to tell people off pretty often for clicking selfies with their masks off. We also restricted the number of stalls and hawkers outside.”
The police people posted at the AJ-BJ Block crossing looked far more relaxed than in pre-pandemic puja days too. “It’s crowded but it’s not a patch on what it used to be,” said one of them. “By this time in other years we would be holding back pedestrians crossing between AJ and BJ block with ropes,” said a police person at about 7pm (chk time from pix???) on Navami.
Auto driver Khokon Ghosh felt a chunk of Salt Lake’s potential visitors were stuck at Sreebhumi. “As for the others, AJ is one of few blocks that has an attractive pandal so I am loitering here for passengers.”
But Sanjoy Barman, owner of the Scone fast food outlet in AJ Block, says this Navami has been his highest selling Navami in their 21 years of business. He also set up a stall in food court behind BJ pandal but sale wasn’t as robust there. “The pandal design in BJ Block was such that many visitors took U-turns from the gate itself without going up to the idol and reaching the food court behind. AJ is where I did bumper business.”
Share your pandal-hopping experience this Puja.
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