Kolkata: Calcutta High Court has allowed Sealdah Railway Athletic Club to hold its annual Durga Puja at Railway Quarter Netaji Subhas Ground near Sealdah station, bringing an end to a dispute that had stalled preparations for the festival.The club, which has been organising the puja at the venue since 1948, had moved court after authorities locked the premises last month and deployed RPF personnel to stop work. The court on Tuesday allowed the club to organise the puja at the ground and rejected the claim of another party seeking to hold the festival at the same venue.Club officials produced several documents in court, including permission orders from railways and receipts relating to govt grants to Sealdah Athletic Club. The organisers had earlier said they had applied for permission in June but a dispute over the use of the ground delayed the process.The organisers will now have to complete the pandal, idol-related work and other arrangements in a fraction of the time normally available to them.“The Calcutta High Court has directed the authorities to allow Sealdah Athletic Club to organise Durga Puja at the ground. The claim of the other party to hold the puja at the same ground was rejected,” said Srijit Saha, secretary of the puja committee.The dispute had intensified last month when the ground was locked, leaving a partially completed pandal and other puja materials inside. RPF personnel were posted outside and club officials were prevented from entering and continuing preparations. “We have been organising the puja at this ground since 1948. When the authorities locked the place and barred us from holding the festival, we were left with no alternative but to approach the court,” said Saha.The court order has brought relief to the organisers, but they now face a race against time, with barely two weeks left before Durga Puja. The club had planned a London Bridge-themed pandal, but much of the preparation time has been lost because of the permission dispute.“We got permission very late and, after that, it was withdrawn. The work is nowhere near complete, but we are determined to hold the puja. Our decorator has also left, but we will somehow complete the preparations,” said Saha.The delay has also caused financial losses. The puja has a budget of around Rs 35 lakh–Rs 40 lakh, and the committee had made advance payments for the idol, decorator and other arrangements. A carnival held at the venue during the puja was also affected, with people who had booked stalls cancelling their bookings and taking back advance payments.The competing claimant, Kankan Kumar Gunri, had earlier secured permission for a Khuti Puja at the same ground, leading to the dispute. Authorities had proposed that the two groups jointly organise the puja, but Athletic Club did not agree. Several calls to Gunri went unanswered.
