Lights will not glow bright on Kali Puja this year in Bowbazar as many residents continue to stay in hotels

Kolkata: Bowbazar area will give a miss to the Kali Puja festivities this year as several homeless residents are yet to return to their houses after the East-West Metro tunnel disaster.

"A small pandal, without any decoration has been set up in the area. The idol of Maa Kali will be brought to the pandal today (October 26)," said Bharat Soni, owner of a jewellery manufacturing unit at Syakra Para Lane which now lies under debris.

While several houses at Durga Pithuri Lane and Syakra Para Lane have partially or wholly collapsed, cracks developed in several houses situated at Gour De Lane as well.

More than 600 families have been shifted to hotels by the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRCL), the implementing agency of the East-West Metro project. "We are not celebrating Kali Puja this year because most of our neighbours are still homeless and staying at hotels. They have not yet returned home. We will just perform the rituals in front of Maa Kali," said Rimpa Das, a resident of 94 B B Ganguly Street, who had shifted from the hotel to her home on October 25.

The KMRCL had formed a team to examine 70 buildings in the area. It had submitted a report on 54 houses after the buildings had developed structural damages following subsidence on August 31. Out of these 54 houses, 27 needed to be demolished.

"We will just perform the rituals in front of Maa Kali. We will pray to the deity for our neighbours so that they can return home at the earliest," said Somnath Banerjee, a resident of 2 B, Gour De Lane, who had shifted from the hotel to his residence on September 26.