Come Pujas, Rs 100 cr drains out from just Guwahati to Bengal

GUWAHATI, Sept 23: Durga puja celebrations and artisal skills are seriously out of sync in Assam, leading to the draining out of around Rs 100 crore every Durga puja season from Guwahati city alone to West Bengal.

There are around 550 barowary (community) Durga pujas in Guwahati and its suburbs, along with nearly as many private pujas in the State capital. Around 30-50 such pujas are big budget ones costing Rs 30-50 lakh, around 200 pujas of medium budget costing Rs 15-29 lakh and the rest are small budget ones spending below Rs 15 lakh. A large workforce is engaged every year during the puja season, but many come from West Bengal.

The workers comprise skilled ones like artisans, pandal makers and decorators, besides unskilled labourers. Among the skilled ones, both artisans and pandal makers or decorators are from West Bengal; many of them come to Guwahati with their own teams, and do not engage any local worker here. 

Local artisans and pandal makers or decorators are very few as the occupation is no longer a profitable one in Assam. It is far from being treated as an industry, nor are artisans and decorators considered to possess artistic merit.

When asked, Ugratora temple maging committee’s executive member Kailash Sharma said: “Around 80 percent of over Rs 100 crore spent in Guwahati and its suburbs during Durga puja every year goes to West Bengal. This happens because unlike West Bengal, there’s no puja magement agency in Assam. In the neighbouring State, puja magement agencies do roaring business during puja season the way event magers do in Assam. A puja magement agency of West Bengal can mage as many as 20 pujas in Assam. After handing over the job on a West Bengal-based agency, we can be rest assured that everything will go the way we want. They can give the job their professiol touches. Such agencies are hardly seen in Assam. There are only two such agencies here but they’re far from being solvent. Local youths aren’t interested in doing such jobs either.”

Sarma continued: “The artisans in Assam have failed to pass on their legacy of idol-making to the next generation. The job is no longer alluring to the upcoming generation as it does not pay dividends. The State government looks the other way when it comes to the wellbeing of artisans. They don’t get any subsidy, nor do they get any benefits of government schemes to further their art. The situation, however, is quite different in West Bengal. Artisans get government subsidies and benefits under various schemes meant for them. This is one of the reasons why the industry flourishes there. The artisans there get recognition as artists.”

Talking to this reporter, a local artisan said: “This art of my forefathers will end with my body on the pyre. My son is not eager to take to this occupation which cannot help us to make ends meet. We have to depend entirely on West Bengal – starting from the very clay used in making idols. Such clay costs Rs 15,000 per truck now against Rs 8,000 earlier. The costs of colours too have gone up with the charging of GST at source.”