Kolkata: The preparedness of one of the famous Durga Pujas in north Kolkata — organised by Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durgatsav Samity — is likely to face hurdles following demolition of a structure at Sarada Banerjee Park where the 91-year-old traditional puja is held every year. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) parks department demolished the structure terming it illegal.A notice was sent to the club before demolition. Though the puja committee had prayed to the civic authorities to spare the structure as it used to play a vital role in crowd management, the civic bosses decided to raze it since it was built keeping the civic authorities “in the dark”.Besides the club structure, the KMC demolition team also razed six toilets that were built for female visitors to the puja.“The structure referred to in the demolition notice was not constructed for any commercial purpose. It was constructed to address public safety and operational requirements during the festive period,” said Pratyusha Banerjee, the general secretary of the puja samity. She added that the number of visitors had increased significantly after 2017 after the committee introduced theme-based pujas.“During the pujas, lakhs gather at our pandal. The necessity of crowd management has become more important after tragic loss of lives in a stampede-like situation in 2022,” said Banerjee.The razing of toilets will also affect the women and senior citizens, the puja committee general secretary said. However, a KMC parks department official said there was no option but to demolish the structure as it illegally occupied the park space. “We can’t sit idle and spare such illegal structures. There was no way we could spare the unauthorized structure from demolition,” the official said.
