One has heard of ornaments worn by the goddess getting stolen from idols but in possibly the first such instance in Salt Lake, construction materials from a pandal have been reported stolen.
The organisers of the BE East puja were in for a shock when on the morning of October 1, four wooden boards were reported missing from the pandal. “We hold our puja on an empty plot where we construct a platform over the uneven ground. The boards were about 6ft by 3ft in size. So it is unlikely that someone could have simply picked them off and walked off. More than one person must have been involved,” said Sarmishtha Mukhopadhyay, vice-president of the all-woman puja committee. The next morning, there was again report of some wooden planks going missing. “We have no definite count of the number as these come by a matador van and are left at a side for the labourers to use, as and when required,” she said.
The Bidhannagar North police station was notified on Saturday and officers came for inspection and questioning.
The news has caused a stir in the block. “Is this what the pandemic has reduced the economy to that even under-construction pandals are not safe from theft?” wondered an elderly resident.