More than two weeks have passed since Durga Puja, yet several grounds in the city are still occupied by pandals, covering large portions of the ground and making it difficult or, in some cases, impossible for people to go for a morning run or play.

This year, Sashthi was on September 28 and Dashami on October 2.

Even if the pandals have been removed from some of the grounds — partially or fully — the scraps from the structure, wooden planks, bamboo poles, decorative materials or food leftovers are strewn across the ground.

Metro visited several parks in the city on Sunday, and none of those were completely free of scraps or litter.

At Deshapriya Park, large portions of the park were still inaccessible, and the rest of the area had litter spread across it; at Jagat Mukherjee Park, the pandal still occupied the portion used as a playground.

At Kumartuli Park, the pandal had been dismantled, but the entire ground was still filled with waste generated during Puja and items left behind during the dismantling of the pandal.

At Santosh Mitra Square, the pandal still stood on the ground. Maddox Square was in a better shape than the rest, with more than half of the pandal and its associated structures having been removed. The ground was also cleared of any litter.

There is no official deadline to remove the pandals, said Durga Puja organisers. They admitted that a fixed deadline will force them to dismantle the structures.

Several Calcuttans told this newspaper about the difficulties they face when they visit the parks for a walk or a run.

With a drop in the temperatures and the absence of rain, many want to play or walk or run on the grounds, but the pandals or their remains make it difficult.

A Sovabazar resident said the portion of Jagat Mukherjee Park where the puja pandal still stands is used by locals to play football. “Residents play here on holidays, and the ground is also used by joggers and morning walkers,” he said.

At Deshapriya Park, a cricket trainee in one of the clubs said they used to run along the edges of the ground to warm up for practice sessions.

“We either run on paved walkways or along the edges of the practice pitches,” he said. “The catching and fielding practice sessions cannot be done as the ground has not been cleared,” said the trainee.

Four cricket clubs are operating from the ground that compete in the first division and second division leagues run by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).

Anjan Ukil, the general secretary of Forum for Durgotsab, told Metro that the forum has also started discussing among its members whether there should be a deadline for dismantling the puja pandals. “I personally feel that 15 days is a reasonable time to remove the pandal after Durga Puja,” said Ukil.

About 700 Puja committees from Calcutta, Howrah and Burdwan are members of the forum.

Debashis Kumar, the mayoral council member of Kolkata Municipal Corporation in charge of parks and squares department of the civic body, said the civic body will nudge the puja organisers to dismantle the structures faster.

“It is true that many pandals are still occupying parks. We will tell the puja organisers to dismantle the structures faster, but it is also true that it takes a lot of time to dismantle a pandal that was built over two months or more,” he said.

Kumar added that Deshapriya Park will be handed over to CAB from November 1 for the upcoming league matches.

“It will be completely cleared before November 1,” he added.