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Bengal

West Bengal govt to provide venue for 88-feet Durga idol

The state government on Tuesday has finally accepted the proposal of Deshapriya Park puja committee members to preserve the 88-feet Durga idol. 

Government officials will soon start looking for suitable venues like Eco Park to house the idol. Sources said the idol, which was made of fiberglass, will be dismantled soon and re-assembled at its new address. 

The Durga idol has also found a place for itself in the Limca Book of Records, Asian Book of Records and Indian Book of Records. It may also lead its way to the Guinness World Records.  

Keeping in mind the huge traffic that brought the city to a standstill, the key criteria to find the goddess a new home would be traffic control capacities in the area. On Tuesday, the Durga puja committee will meet to take a call on the same. 

Apart from the sole sponsors of the puja Star Cement, the cement manufacturing company promoted by the Kolkata based Century Plyboards group, others in the race to take up the preservation were city industrialists like Harshavardhan Neotia, the Birlas and several others whose names could not be ascertained. Relocation of the idol would also call for a bit of remodeling in terms of the basic structure support. 

Star Cement director Sanjay Agarwal said, “A temporary bamboo structure was made because the idol was to be around only for the pujas. A steel structure will have to be made to support the gigantic idol and ensure that it stays safe against natural calamities.”

Star Cement had invested Rs 6 crore in running the three-month close to long campaign promoting not just the Deshapriya Park puja but also the company. The move was part of Star Cement’s brand building exercise to increase its foothold in eastern India. The campaign that ran across West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Agartala, Jharkhand and Bihar was designed by JWT who are pulling up their socks to design a fresh campaign revolving around the same idol. However, this time the budget would be tighter. The new campaign would be unveiled by the end of the week. 

Despite the controversy surrounding the puja, Star Cement seems to have achieved targets in terms of grabbing eyeballs.
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