A change of guard has taken in the organising committee of Salt Lake Maitri Sangha. The swimming pool area club, that is known for hosting a grand Kali puja and big-ticket Bollywood musical events, will be organising its seventh Ganesh puja under a new president and secretary. It now also has a chairman in the local MLA, Sujit Bose, the fire and emergency services minister.
“We held a meeting on August 15 and decided on a new committee. The earlier president (Sabyasachi Dutta) neither comes nor is in contact with other members. The earlier secretary (Amitabha Dutta) is unwell. Someone has to continue with the puja, after all,” said Kripa Sankar Sharma, the new president, who said he was earlier the vice-president.
Local residents say the development was expected ever since a felicitation was organised for Bose at the Bidhannagar Swimming Association a stone’s throw away from the club’s puja venue under the Maitri Sangha banner after the Assembly election result.
Sabyasachi Dutta, who contested from the Bidhannagar seat on a BJP ticket and has lost to Sujit Bose of Trinamul Congress in the election, is upset at being displaced from the helm of the 33-year-old club. “Dokhol bojhen, dokhol (Do you understand what takeover is)?” he asked The Telegraph Salt Lake over phone. “In a registered club, a meeting has to be called to elect a new committee. Even if one accepts that the secretary was unwell, the president was there and is taking calls. Neither was I informed, nor was the treasurer Surajit Ghosh. A club meeting is supposed to be called by either the secretary or the president,” he said.
But he is not planning to take any immediate steps. “I can’t go and fight them. Nor do I want to go to court to stop the puja. I was not there in the club for any personal gain,” he added.
Meanwhile, the club has pulled off a coup by getting veteran sculptor Pradip Rudrapal to make his first Ganesh puja idol. “I am usually so busy with Durga puja that I do not take any Ganesh puja orders. But it was a direct request from Sujitda (Bose), so I could not say no,” said Rudrapal, a resident of BJ Block, who has been in charge of the Kali puja idol for the club. It also helped that he has cut down Durga puja orders by half.
The idol promises to be gorgeous. The 10-ft Ganesh will be seated on a throne and will have a 13ft high chalchitra that will be spread across 10ft in width.
“The inauguration will take place on September 9 and the puja will take place over September 10, 11 and 12, with the immersion slated for the last day,” said Saikat Chowdhury, the new secretary.
But the puja itself will be downscaled. “We never collected subscription for Ganesh puja and raised the budget from our own pockets,” Sharma said. The club dinner held for Ganesh puja has been cancelled, in keeping with Covid protocol.
So far, Bose is supposed to inaugurate the puja. But both Sharma and Chowdhury said there might be a famous face beside him. “Sujitda is looking into it,” Sharma said.
Write to saltlake@abp.in