Kolkata: Baghbazar Sarbojanin Durgotsav & Exhibition, the city’s oldest community Durga Puja, held its kathamo and khunti puja on Sunday to mark the start of the idol making and pandal construction even though work had started around a fortnight ago.The delay of over a month in conducting the ceremonies was owing to a legal tangle in which the puja had got embroiled over election of committee members. With the Sealdah City Civil Court giving its ruling on Sept 3 and Calcutta High Court endorsing it on Sept 15, Baghbazar puja general secretary Goutam Neogy said they chose Sunday to conduct the ceremonies for everyone’s convenience. “Our work on the pandal, idol and lighting had actually started on Sept 7 when the new committee was formed after a meeting following the lower court verdict. After the HC ratified the verdict, the conflict was finally put to rest. This year, the pandal will be based on the Swaminarayan Temple in New Jersey. Sadhan Pal of Jiten Pal & Sons is crafting the idol. The straw and clay have also arrived for crafting of the idol at the puja ground,” he said.To compensate for the delay, more labourers have been deployed to make the pandal. The puja plans to open on Oct 14, Chaturthi. The fair will also be held. “This year’s puja will be as grand as any other. The time crunch will not be felt by visitors and devotees,” said Neogy, whose re-election to the post of general secretary was among five posts that had been fiercely contested and ended in a tie before a casting ballot saw him and four others scrape through.“This is an apolitical organisation. In a family, there might be differences of opinion. One side decided to approach court. Now, that has been resolved. But this is a puja where its president was Subhas Chandra Bose. There was a totally false hype that the puja might not happen. I got calls from as far as US to Mumbai enquiring whether there would any puja. This can never ever be that this puja will stop. While the construction of the pandal has already begun, today’s event should drive out all naysayers from here. The Baghbazar puja is back in its natural avatar in its 108th year,” said another participant.Calcutta High Court had upheld a lower court ruling validating the process followed to constitute the Bagbazar Puja committee, thereby resolving a deadlock over the oldest community Durga Puja in Kolkata.Earlier, Calcutta High Court had upheld a lower court ruling validating the process followed to constitute the Bagbazar Puja committee, thereby resolving a deadlock over the oldest community Durga Puja in Kolkata. Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya had also dismissed club member Rabishankar Sengupta’s petition challenging the casting-vote procedure.
