Rath-er Mela at Central Park this year will be curtailed because of Shahid Divas preparations of the Trinamul Congress.

The organisers had got permission from the urban development department in May to hold the mela from July 4 to 29. But 10 days ago, word reached them that the fair would have to be concluded much in advance as party workers coming from the districts to attend the July 21 gathering at Dharmatala would have to be housed at the ground.

'The official word came last Friday. We were asked to end the fair on July 15,” said Kumar Sankar Sadhu, secretary of Bidhannagar Sree Chaitanya Bhagabat Samaj, the organisers of the fair.

In the initial years of the event which is in its 28th edition this year, the fair would be held over 10 days. “Its duration increased to 25 to 28 days once the fair ground became tiled, allowing free movement even after a shower. This is the first time since then that we are having to revert to a shorter duration,” said president Ramen Das, a founder-member of the organisation.

Preparations for the fair underway on Wednesday at Central Park. Picture by Saradindu Chaudhury

The organisers have applied for a refund of a part of the venue booking amount which is calculated on the basis of the number of days but that is the least of their concerns.

This decision to curtail the fair has landed them in major financial problems. Not only would stall booking amounts have to be drastically reduced, many stall-keepers might not want to participate. “Vendors book stalls knowing the fair to last for close to a month. That way even if some days are washed out they can recover in sales on other days. But with the fair lasting just for 12 days, many are unsure whether it would be viable to book stalls at all. News of cancellations are pouring in,” said Sadhu on Wednesday.

The organisers bestow the responsibility of construction and booking of stalls to a third party, NK Enterprise. “They give us an amount and help us by constructing free of cost the pandal where cultural programmes are held.”

Now they are unsure as to how many stall-keepers will finally make it. “Since they are all familiar faces in the fair circuit, much of the transactions happen verbally. So people might cancel out even after arriving on Thursday,” said Sadhu. “This year, it seems we will face massive losses.”

An alternative venue for housing workers that was considered at a meeting with MLA Sujit Bose was the ground opposite the fair gates which had been used for parking during the Book Fair but was rejected for lack of infrastructure. “About 30,000 people will have to be housed. Last year, the party workers had stayed at Milan Mela. This year we are keeping them at Central Park and Gitanjali sports complex in Kasba. This is not the first time. Party workers had stayed at Central Park before our Brigade Parade Ground meeting in January too,” said Bose.

The fair organisers had spent on publicity of the original dates, with banners and hoardings being put up on buildings, islands and behind vehicles. “Now we have to book auto-rickshaws and announce the change of dates over loudspeakers in the blocks,” Sadhu said.