kolkata: For the first time in the history of community Puja in Bengal, the Department of Posts has come forward to preserve the idol crafted by a Puja committee in the city. The idol at Aurobindo Setu Sarbojonin Durgotsav Committee, Ultadanga has been styled as a postal stamp. With post office being the theme at this community Puja, the pandal was decorated with replicas of various postal elements. The idol will be preserved at General Post Office (GPO), Kolkata.
"The pandal had amazing details and was nicely executed. The idol is a reminder of philately. We decided to preserve it to acknowledge the hard work that had gone into the creation,"Niraj Kumar, post master general (PMG), Kolkata said.
The idol will be kept in the Philately Club of GPO from Monday. "We have plans of using this creativity in some other ways in the days to come," he added. On the day of Ashtami, the Department of Posts made arrangements for running temporary post office services from the Puja pandal itself as a token of appreciation.
All sorts of services available in a post office like opening of savings accounts, linking of Aadhaar with accounts and handling of letters, parcels etc was carried out. A post box was placed in the pandal on all five Puja days and regular pick-up of letters was made.
"Our theme 'Dakjog' was aimed at reminding people of the time when postal service was the only medium of communication. The art of letter writing lost its popularity and relevance in an ever-changing world of e-mails and social media. The nostalgia associated with postal system is on the wane," Mintu Patra, the media-coordinator of the Puja committee, who had conceptualised the entire theme, said.
Gopal Kar had crafted the idol, while Raju Sutradhar designed the pandal's décor. A social media post describing the concept of the committee's Puja caught the attention of the Department of Posts and Kumar himself visited the Puja pandal along with senior officials. He presented a postal stamp bearing the name of the Puja committee as a token of appreciation.