A lottery counter at Kharavela Nagar in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 30: Rurdranarayan Behera from Kamakhya Nagar in Dhenkanal district, who was in Bhubaneswar for some work, could not resist the temptation when he saw a raffle counter in the city. He bought a five-rupee coupon. The prizes included a scooter and a colour television, among other things.

Like Behera, many citizens can be seen buying coupons at the counters, which were opened recently across the capital. Puja committees and local clubs manage most of these counters. The price of the coupons range from Rs 5 to Rs 20. The counters have become a regular feature during Puja for the last couple of years. At some places, the selling of tickets continues till the lucky draw takes place after Kali Puja.

A number of citizens said raffle was an alternative to donations collected during the festive season. “It is a way to raise funds for the Puja. At the same time, it sidelines the conflicts which generally take place during the collection of donations and it also gives you a chance to try your luck,” said Chittaranjan Nayak, a local businessman.

The puja committees earlier pestered shop owners and residents to extract donations for Puja. But when it comes to lotteries, people want to buy multiple tickets to try their luck. “If someone invests just Rs 10, the return could be worth a thousand times of that, provided you are lucky. This is the reason why people are purchasing coupons,” said Santilata Pradhan, a homemaker.

For some puja committees, it is easy to collect money for the puja arrangements by selling raffle coupons. According to Narayan Mohapatra, secretary of Saheed Nagar Durga Puja Samiti, many local residents as well as people from other parts of the city buy the coupons. Even contributors for the puja are given lucky coupons worth their donation. “Every year we sell nearly 1,40,000 coupons and raise nearly Rs 14 lakh for the puja. We fix 20 per cent of that budget for the raffle prizes while the remaining is used for organising the puja,” he said.

On the other hand, some puja committees refused to agree that raffle business was a way to raise money. “We sell around 40,000 tickets which raises nearly Rs 2 lakh. But if you go through the budget of the prizes, you can calculate the loss. It is just a way to attract people to the puja pandal and the main donors for the puja arrangements, the shop-owners near the pandals, get more business,” said Saroj Nanda, at the raffle counter in Kharavela Nagar.

Usually, a raffle coupon has a number and space where the buyer has to write his name, address and phone number. Usually, the winning numbers appear in a chart and the winners are intimated by letters and phone calls. The draws are conducted in front of a crowd.