With some Puja pandals continuing to stand erect despite the Puja organisers given the November 21 deadline for their removal, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided that it will charge the organisers a certain sum of money if the civic body has to remove them.
There are still some pandals and bamboo materials relating to these structures piled up at some places in the city and have been blocking access to some lanes and even parks.
The matter, on reaching the KMC authorities, has forced them to take a call on the issue. The Member-Mayor-in-Council of Parks and Squares department, Debashish Kumar is learnt to have said that if the Puja organisers do not follow the orders then the KMC will be compelled to remove the structures but will charge the organisers for it.
The KMC had already set two deadlines earlier and both are over but the structures continue to exist, blocking pathways. Some of the organisers have, however, said that they would dismantle it after Jagaddhatri Puja. “We did not dismantle our pandal after Durga Puja because we also perform Kali Puja and Jagaddhatri Puja there,” remarked a Puja organiser at Ward 93.
Some of these structures were also observed at several parks in both north and south Kolkata. Makeshift bamboo structures that were used for advertisements are also not removed.
Firhad Hakim had last week directed for the removal of pandals and bamboo scaffoldings used for installing banners and hoardings associated with Durga Puja and Kali Puja in the city by November 21.
“Team from KMC will seize the bamboo if pandal structures are not removed. Only those associated with Jagaddhatri Puja and Chhath Puja will be spared,” he had said.