Kolkata in a fix over preserving the tallest Durga statue

Kolkata: The “world’s tallest Durga”, has put the city in a fix as the organisers hunt for the ideal location to house the 27-metre-high statue.

The much-hyped exhibit has not found any place so far even after the organisers have approached the State government in this regard.

“We have already offered the structure to the government, but there has been no progress in that matter,” Sudipta Kumar, secretary of the organisation committee, said.

Though several corporates have offered to preserve the tallest Durga, the organisers however prefer to preserve it within a government owned campus so that ordinary people can view the same.

“We have already got requests from the C.K. Birla family, Techno India Group, Nicco Group and a Hyderabad-based company to preserve the [statue]. It will be better if it is kept with the government, but we are yet to hear from them,” Kumar said.

“It took more than three months to build the 88-foot [27 metres] idol in a studio before the parts were shifted to marquee for assembling. All I wanted was to showcase it to the people. It didn’t happen. Hopefully it will happen now,” sculptor Mintu Pal said.

“People should have an opportunity to see this structure and we hope that the government considers our request,” Kumar added. The organisers said they have offered the government to relocate the structure at their own cost to an entertainment park on the eastern fringes of the city.

The statue became a centre of attraction and controversy this puja forcing the city police to ban public viewing of the statue and filed a case against the organisers for violating rules and regulations.

Such was the craze that police estimated that close to a million wanted to visit the marquee on October 18, even before start of the four-day autumn festival, leading to a near stampede in the area and bringing city traffic to a complete halt.

“We were forced to take the decision or else the city would have come to a standstill during the entire puja. If thousands of cars in a 10-mile-radius wants to converge in a single place it is next to impossible to control such a crowd,” said a police officer.