Clay idol makers fear eviction after Kali puja

 

COOCH BEHAR, Nov. 6: The clay idol makers of Palashbari Road in this town fear eviction of their studios after the Kali puja.

 

Cooch Behar Municipality and the district administration had jointly conducted an eviction drive a few months ago. During the drive many shops and stalls were dismantled to make the streets encroachment free. The artisans were also asked to vacate the encroached areas of the road. They begged for some time upto Kali Puja and now the deadline came closer. Cooch Behar Sadar SDO Mr Jayanta Kumar Maiti said they would discuss over the matter after Kali Puja.

 

Though the area (where the idol makers are living) of Palashbari Road has no official name it is popularly known as Kumartuli. It is adjacent to the NBSTC's Cooch Behar division office and workshop. The idol makers of this area are suffering from lack of adequate space for a long. They had to come down almost on the adjacent street. The street turned into a sort of extended space for their clay idol making studios. They make clay idols of various Gods and Goddesses worshiped round the year.

 

The road became narrow and accident-prone due to regular idol making and drying beside this road. The artisans made appeals on several occasions to the authorities to help them by allotting a piece of land for their studios but nothing happened till now. Finding no alternative they had to come down to work by encroaching the roadside.

 

There are about ten studios of the clay-artisans beside Palashbari Road. They are residing there and engaged in their profession from the days of the Maharajas.

 

Secretary of Cooch Behar Mritshilpi Samiti Mr Rameswar Pal said they were suffering from lack of adequate space but no one ever came forward to rescue. Due to the space problem inside their narrow studios they have to keep the idols very close to one another and for that the idols have to suffer damage. They keep the half-done and unfinished idols beside the road under the sky to dry those by sunray. It is not safe to keep the idols outside but there is no alternative.

 

Narrating their plight the artisans said during the rainy season they have to face additional problems of saving the clay idols from the heavy downpour. They had appealed several times to the Cooch Behar Municipality to allot them a piece of land near Laldighi or anywhere in the town for construction of a work-shed but nothing happened yet.

 

Cooch Behar Municipality sources said there was a proposal to establish a work-shed for the clay-idol makers at Kalabagan area but as no specific plan was adopted it is yet uncertain. On the otherhand, the idol makers have no idea how they will carry on their work if evicted after Kali puja. They make hundreds of Gods and Goddesses but will any God appear as saviour to them? []