Artisans, not just local yokels!

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Sept 24: At a time when most of the community Durga Puja committees in Guwahati have gone for luxurious puja by bringing artisans and pandal makers from West Bengal, there are a few puja committees that have kept their faith on artisans who are neglected as ‘local yokels’.

One such puja committee in Guwahati is the Sarbajanik Sri Sri Durga Puja, Railway Colony, Kalibari in the Bamunmaidam area in Guwahati. Talking to this reporter, puja committee president Pawan Dutta said: “Repeated waves of floods ravaging the State this year, we’ve opted not to go for big budget Durga Puja. We’ve kept our faith on a local artisan and workers. The artisan and his workers are from Mirza. The pandal will be ready by tomorrow. This time around, our plan is to make the Goddess stand on a big boat. The theme depicts the big boat seen in the box office hit – Bahubali. Instead of bringing artisans from Kolkata, we have relied on our local artisan and workers.”

On security strictures laid down by the district administration, Dutta said: “We’ve four CCTVs fitted in the pandal. There will be around 80 security personnel and volunteers engaged in the puja. We’ve also taken up measures for firefighting and health problems.”