Cooch Behar: Residents of Cooch Behar have been deprived of the joy of watching a musical fountain inaugurated at Bairagi Dighi, located opposite the famous Madanmohan temple, last month.

"We could enjoy the musical fountain only till November 18, that is, till the last day of the Raash Utsav (November 3). Since then, those in charge of the fountain are no longer running it. It is disappointing that despite so much of fanfare, the fountain is not being run every evening," said Samir Sarkar, a senior resident of the town.

The musical fountain at Bairagi Dighi, one of the prominent water bodies in the town, was installed by spending around Rs 3 crore. The North Bengalk development department and state tourism department had funded the project, which was developed as an added attraction to pull visitors into the town and also in the area.

This is the second fountain that was set up in Cooch Behar town and is non-operational now.

Earlier, a dancing fountain was set up at the garden located in the palace premises. But after a year or so, it stopped working.

"It is disappointing that such attractions are being set up by spending government money and time and again, those were kept idle and eventually become non-functional. It seems that the fate of the musical fountain in Bairagi Dighi will be similar like that of the fountain installed at the palace premises," said a resident.

During the Raash Utsav, thousands of devotees who were swarming at the Madanmohan Temple, had enjoyed the musical fountain at the water body. Also, many locals had been visiting the place and the locality had turned out to be an attraction.

But the sudden decision by the administration has left the residents disenchanted.

Representatives of the Debottur Trust Board of Cooch Behar said they would run it only on weekends. "It has been decided that the fountain would run only on Saturdays and Sundays," Jayanta Chakraborty, an employee of the board said. Sunil Agarwal, an additional district magistrate in Cooch Behar, said the decision was taken as there are few visitors on weekdays.