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BSS-01
DURGA-IDOL-ERECTION (with picture)
Idol makers busy ahead of Durga Puja in Rajshahi
RAJSHAHI, Sept 13, 2019 (BSS) – Idol makers commonly known as Pauls are
passing their busy days in making idols of Hindu deities ahead of Durga Puja
festival in Rajshahi city, nine upazilas of the district.
With only three weeks left, the Pauls are working round the clock to make
sure that the idols are ready in time.
The Pauls hope for earning better earnings this year as the number of Puja
mandaps has increased in the region.
Kartik Chandra Paul, an idol maker of Alupotti Kumarpara area of the city
said cost of raw materials including clay, rope, straw, bamboo and jute for
idols have highly been increased.
“Five to eight workers need 10-15 days for making a large idol while
smaller ones need around two weeks each,” he added.
Kartik Paul, who is involved in idol-making profession for over 24 years,
has made 27 idols in last two months in the current season and has been
working for seven more others at present. Taka 30,000 to 60,000 are spent for
each of the idols, he said.
He said that about one hundred Paul groups of Rajshahi are now busy making
idols for mandaps and they have already completed 80 per cent works of making
the idols.
Swapon Ghosh, a devotee who supervises a puja mandap in Kumarpara area of
the city, informed that preparations for the upcoming Durga Puja have become
costlier due to high price of the raw materials as well as increased charges
of idol makers, purohits and dhakis.
Shyamal Kumar Ghosh, Rajshahi city unit general secretary of Hindu Buddhist
Christian Oikya Parishad, told BSS that the Durga Puja will be celebrated in
more than 400 Puja mandaps including 76 in Rajshahi city from October 5 to 8.
Around 500 idol makers are engaged in making idols for Durga Puja in the
region.
Decorations of temples, lighting, and setting up of mandaps are expected to
be turned the city into a festive look within the next couple of days,
Shyamal Ghosh added.
BSS/AH/MR/ 1058 hrs