Sculpture of Durga as migrant worker installed at New Town
KOLKATA: In a bid to make people aware about the spiraling cases of COVID-19, New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has installed a sculpture depicting the plight of the migrant workers adjacent to the Fintech hub in New Town.
During Durga Puja last year, the sculpture—depicting Devi Durga and her entourage as migrant workers—was installed by the Barisha Club at Behala Sakherbazar.
"The doctors have already warned of the second wave of COVID-19 with daily positive cases crossing the 4,300 mark. We have installed the sculpture at a strategic location, on the way to Coffee House from Westin, to remind people that we do not want to go back to those days of 2020. So, we have to remain careful. We should all wear masks and maintain physical distancing," a senior NKDA official said.
The club authorities had expressed their desire to preserve the magnificent work of art and the state government had agreed. It was handed over to the NKDA authorities in March.The sculpture, which is the brainchild of theme maker Rintu Das, has been made by Pallab Bhowmick in his studio at Krishnanagar in Nadia district.
Conceived as a woman migrant worker, Devi Durga is portrayed praying for relief with her child on her lap. The shirtless child on her lap has been conceived as Kartik. Goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati have been presented as child migrant workers.
The sufferings of migrant workers, in different parts of the country, were one of the drab realities of the pandemic. According to an NKDA official, New Town too has witnessed a rise in Covid positive cases and even a death had been reported a few days back.
"We have started opening safe homes, relocating our Covid testing centres and trying to scale up immunization, subject to availability of vaccines,' Debashis Sen, Chairman of NKDA said. Awareness through loudspeakers and other related activities to curb further rise of Covid will be further scaled up after the elections. New Town is bound for elections on April 17.
