Frames, hoardings, and advertisement banners erected for Durga Puja on Central Avenue
KMC on Tuesday extended the deadline by 48 hours. Kolkata: Puja organisers in Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) areas — Kolkata, Salt Lake and Rajarhat-Gopalpur — are in the process of dismantling Durga Puja pandals set up on roads and inside parks owned by the civic bodies. KMC had issued instructions that puja organisers will need to remove pandals from parks and grounds by Tuesday, and BMC had instructed clubs to do the same by Wednesday, failing which, a ground booking charge would be imposed on a daily basis. Organisers were also asked to remove all temporary banners within the same deadline, failing which, the civic bodies would impose penalties. Most puja organisers in Salt Lake who set up pandals in community parks and vacant plots owned by BMC and the urban development department also organise Lakshmi Puja in the same pandals. They have now started removing the structures. However, barring a few, most will take a few more days to fully vacate the premises.
The task of dismantling pandal structures from a park will not be possible by Wednesday, according to a well-known puja organiser in south Kolkata. Then, it will take another two days to transport the pandal materials outside the park,” said the organiser, requesting anonymity. Similarly, puja organisers in Kolkata have pleaded helplessness. “We will need at least three more days to dismantle the huge structure.