Residents may have revelled at puja pandals this past week, but a lingering thought at the back of their minds was dengue. So CG Block spent the Rs 60,000 they received from the state government for the Puja on mosquito prevention instead.
“We are happy that people came to our pandal and we felt it our responsibility to ensure they were safe in doing so. The green verge, where our pandal was erected, had become a jungle, collecting stagnating water and breeding mosquitoes so we felt the best use of the money from the government would be to trim the grass, sprinkle bleaching powder and sanitise the place for overall safety,” said Sankar Prosad Deb, the block general secretary.
CG Block’s green verge stretches across the heart of the block for around half a kilometre. But residents claim the corporation has not sent anyone to trim the grass there for over a year. On the other hand, dengue cases have started spiraling. “In the past month, our block has reported more than 10 dengue cases,” said Deb. “But instead of playing the blame game we decided to do the needful ourselves.”
The executive committee members of the block association took this decision before the Pujas. Workers were put on the job about a week before the festival and they worked through the Pujas. “This isn’t a one-off move. We shall, from now on, maintain the verge round the year. To kickstart the project, we used the Rs 60,000 grant and also pumped in surplus funds from what we had collected as Puja subscription, advertisements etc. In future the association will fund the upkeep,” Deb said.
Last year, the block received Rs 50,000 assistance for the Pujas from the government and spent it exclusively on Covid-safety measures. To avoid crowding inside the community hall, they built an open-air shed outside with a huge LED screen that live streamed the anjali and other rituals. Masks were distributed, the hall was sanitised repeatedly…
“But this year, we felt that along with worshipping the goddess, we needed to protect residents. We announced our decision to the municipal commissioner at a ward-level dengue-prevention meeting right before the Pujas and he encouraged us,” said the secretary.