KOLKATA: Housing complexes in Kolkata, Salt Lake and New Town are busy with Durga Puja preparations but with a difference this year.
Some are creating a special space to offer homage to the RG Kar victim seeking justice while many others are setting aside a portion of their Durga Puja budget to spend on women's welfare and charitable works.
At New Town Heights, the organisers are creating a wall near their pandal, where slogans and posters demanding justice for Tilottama will be displayed.Several residents will also wear black ribbons and badges throughout the puja days as a mark of protest.
"The cultural programmes will focus on women's empowerment. Every performance will reflect that theme. We are also planning to contribute a portion of our puja fund to women's welfare related programmes," said Sameer Sharma, one of the organisers.
Subho Dasgupta, a resident of Moonbeam Complex, stressed that while their budget remains unchanged, a significant portion of the money will go for charitable works this year. "We will organize a charitable event to provide food and clothes to the underprivileged. Our cultural programmes will be in-house. We are also considering incorporating a small segment to show solidarity with Tilottama," he said.
Puja organisers of Silver Spring off EM Bypass in Kolkata also admitted that while they are organizing the puja on the same scale like earlier years, the mood and enthusiasm is low among residents. "Our theme is Rajbari, but the lack of excitement is noticeable. We've limited the programmes and urged residents to participate," said Rajesh Kumar, one of the organisers. He adds that the celebrations will be more subdued, and they have planned silent protests for the RG Kar victim, with dedicated slots for paying condolences.
Similar has been the preparations at South City complex and Daffodil Greens complex in south Kolkata where the puja budget has not been scaled down, but the focus has been more on the puja than the extravaganza and cultural programmes surrounding it.
"The celebrations will be low-key and the pandal will be more open this year, ensuring that families can sit together and spend quality time. As of now, we are not bringing any performing artists from outside and all cultural programmes will be in-house. We will also be distributing new clothes to family members of all guards and domestic helps who work in our complex," said Sudip Roychowdhury, president of Daffodil Greens.
Celebrating their ninth year of Durga Puja celebrations, Silver Oak Estate in Rajarhat made emergency changes to their pandal to focus on women safety cancelling their previous plan of constructing a pandal resembling a royal palace of Rajasthan. The exterior pandal decorations will be with 100 drawings and sketches by the residents of Silver Oak to educate society about good touch, bad touch linked with sexual abuse. The puja organisers also took the initiative to empower 50 odd girls aged between 7 to 22 years from an orphanage in Baruipur by helping to teach them karate.