New Town’s CC Block held two community pujas this year. The banner under which it was held the last three years — Newtown CC Block Puja Samity — organised it on an empty plot this time while a new body — Newtown CC Block Puja Committee — held it in the large field designated by NKDA for holding the festival.
Both bodies are at loggerheads after a fallout earlier this year and have lodged multiple police and court cases against each other.
Discord and disharmony
The CC Block puja had started about 10 years ago in the parking lot of a co-operative building without any formal banner. “It was an informal committee then, where funds of the block association and puja association were fluid. To make proceedings transparent, we decided to segregate the two,” said Biman Samaddar, who got Newtown CC Block Puja Samity registered in 2019 and got elected as a governing body member.
“But things changed after the 2020 Assembly elections when some residents and ruling party members joined hands and started threatening to take over the puja,” said Samaddar.
He alleges that these residents got outsiders to the samity’s general body meeting in July and created havoc. “They snatched the mic from us and announced the formation of a new committee. They even tried to snatch the minutes of the meeting book and when I stopped them, they pushed me around,” said Aparesh Chakraborty, a 70-year-old cancer patient who is also a founder of the samity.
Other side of coin
Members of the new group, Newtown CC Block Puja Committee, beg to differ. “Members of the samity wanted to monopolise the puja and are accused of financial irregularities over the years that they have been in power. Residents have had enough of them!” says Debanjan Mukherjee, puja joint secretary.
“At the meeting in July, we openly asked attendees if they wanted a different committee and they overwhelmingly supported us. About 250 people sided with us and their names were jotted down in the minutes of the meeting book. When we wanted to click a picture of the same, the samity members snatched it away so we wouldn’t have evidence,” Mukherjee said.
The samity members, he claims, stormed out of the meeting thereafter but committee members took down the 250 signatures afresh.
The older Newtown CC Block Puja Samity’s festivities were held on Street 241
Ground acquisition
Thereafter both groups started planning puja parallely but the clincher was getting NKDA’s permission for the puja ground.
“NKDA grants permission not to puja committees but to residents’ welfare associations (RWA)s and since the new committee had the blessings of the parent organisation they got permission,” said Amitava Bhattacharjee, president of the RWA.
Not to be daunted, the samity members zeroed in on a new location on Street 241. “It was an empty plot so we took no objection certificates (NOC) from its owner as well as the authorities,” said Samaddar, who was secretary this year.
Head to head
But days before the puja, samity members claim some goons came over and broke their under-construction pandal. “They brandished a gun and scared our labourers away, warning them not to return,” said Manisha Goswami, joint secretary of the puja.
“Even when I would go collecting subscription around the block, members of the new committee would follow me on bikes, abusing and threatening me to stop. They’d say the puja was theirs and that they would collect chanda,” she said.
Mukherjee of the new committee says they know nothing about guns or goons. “If we had really resorted to violence, could they have conducted their puja peacefully,” he asks. “On the contrary, the samity collected subscription from residents claiming they would organise puja on the big field. This was wrongful representation as that’s not where the puja finally took place.”
Samaddar, on the other hand, alleges that committee members raised subscription using their receipts and registration numbers. Several such cases have been filed back and forth with police and courts.
Nonetheless, both pujas were performed. Mukherjee said about 500 units paid them subscription and Samaddar said theirs was about 100. The budget for the committee puja was Rs 3 lakh and the samity’s Rs 2 lakh. “We did not get much time this year but next year we shall hold a big puja with festivities as well as charity,” said Mukherjee of the committee. Samaddar says the court case will determine the fate of their puja next year.
saltlake@abp.in