Alipurduar’s grand Kali Puja resumes after 12 years

Alipurduar: After a 12-year hiatus caused by the stampede deaths, the Kali Puja of the Alipurduar NF Railway Builder Association has resumed this year. It featured the largest pandal in North Bengal, modelled after the Karnataka Assembly. The organisers explicitly claim that this year’s Kali Puja pandal is also one of the biggest pandals in the state.

Discussions and speculations around the Puja at DRM Ground in Alipurduar Junction started three months ago, as the last time the association organised Kali Puja was 12 years ago. Many people vividly remember that Puja. The association did not organise the Puja for 12 years, creating great enthusiasm among the people of Alipurduar from the beginning.

On Wednesday, the idol was taken to the pandal in a procession covering about 5 km, accompanied by 100 drums, through the town of Alipurduar. The NF Railway Builders Association Puja does not collect any subscriptions and no organisation is solicited for sponsorship. One hundred sixty members of the association organised the Puja.

Artists Tapas Hazra from Asansol and Babai Paul from Alipurduar are working on the project. A total of 250 people have worked day and night for the past two months to highlight the Karnataka Vidhan Sabha building.

The pandal is 250 feet wide and 86 feet high. Both the outside and inside of the pandal feature handmade shelves, primarily using bamboo, ply, foam, sponge and fiber.

Badsha Roy, Secretary of NF Railway Builder Association, said: “Work has been ongoing continuously since September. We believe that people will enjoy seeing the pandal. Our aim was to recreate the Karnataka Vidhan Sabha Bhavan perfectly. Currently, this pandal is the largest in North Bengal. In addition to the pandal, there are open stage cultural programmes at DRM Ground everyday until November 15. Popular music artists like Jeet Ganguly from Kolkata and Akankha Sharma from Mumbai will be present. The pandal will be on display until November 15.”

Meanwhile, the organisers are confident that visitors will come not only from Alipurduar district but also from other districts, including Assam, during the Puja days. The RPF will be present along with the state police to handle the crowd.