The Khannagar-Khapuria Ailpanchala Puja Committee here spent nearly Rs 1 crore on a pure gold crown for Goddess Durga at its mandap this year.

“Around 3kg of pure gold was used to mould the crown,” said craftsman Ajay Dey of Shaikh Bazar, who along with his father Biswanath and his brother Bijay Dey completed the intricate gold filigree work.

“It was completed in five months,” said Ajay.

The Puja mandap at Khannagar had come up with silver filigree backdrop — locally called chandi medha — for its Durga idol in 2011.

“We have the only chandi medha in the city which can be assembled into varied designs for different occasions,” said Puja committee secretary Prafulla Kumar Sahoo. “The crown for the Goddess this year is a classic manifestation of gold filigree,” Sahoo said.

Filigree craftsmen feel the traditional decorative craft, tarkashi, associated with silver as the base metal seems to be progressing to gold with Puja mandaps opting for the yellow metal for adorning the Goddess in recent years.

Craftsman Biswanath Dey said: “There has been increasing use of gold since the Choudhury Bazar Puja Mandap came up with a crown made of pure gold for the Goddess on the occasion of its golden jubilee in 2002.”

Taking the cue from Choudhury Bazar, the Shaikh Bazar Puja Committee had replaced silver with gold for the crown of the Goddess at its mandap in 2005. The committee has since added gold jewelleries for the Goddess and crowns of gold for the side deities.

The Chauliaganj Puja Committee had replaced the silver crown of the Goddess at its mandap with a crown moulded out of over 3kg gold in the form of dancing peacock in 2008.

In 2010 Manglabag Puja Committee came up with a 2.5kg crown of pure gold to adorn the Goddess, along with another 2.5kg gold used for the crowns of side deities.

In 2013, the Choudhury Bazar Puja Committee had added an “OM” insignia of pure gold on the crest of the silver filigree backdrop.

“Around 2kg of pure gold was used to mould the OM emblem and another 600 grams of gold was used for necklaces for the Ganesh and Kartik idols,” said Biswanath.

Choudhury Bazar had in 2008 started converting some segments of the chandi medha into gold. “So far, seven of the 30-odd silver segments of the chandi medha have been replaced,” said committee president Debashis Ray. Nearly 7.5kg of gold had been used in the process.

Till 27 years ago, the Choudhury Bazar Puja mandap had remained the star attraction for visitors during Dussehra in the city for its chandi medha since 1956 as it had no parallel in the country, so far silver filigree was concerned.

Today, 24 of the Puja mandaps have chandi medhas, the last one being at Dargha Bazar Puja Mandap in 2017.