Gloomy Durga puja in cyclone-hit Sundarbans

Kolkata: The islanders of Sundarban are trying move in to safer places at Dhamakhali of Sandeshkhali block in North 24 Parganas on Sunday. After devastating “Aila” cyclone the island dwellers of Sundarban are once again battered by a deep depression over Gangetic West Bengal, which lashed with incessant rains and gusty winds in Sundarban Islands. Many embankments have been breached by the coarse rivers and flooded many islands. Fishermen have been alerted and advised not to venture to the sea during the rough weather. Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury. September 06, 2009. NICAID:110642331

With most of the people doing petty jobs in cities to run families back home, a pall of gloom has descended in cyclone-ravaged Sundarbans deltas before Durga puja.

Durga puja has been a low-key affair in the deltas this year after cyclone Aila destroyed the livelihood of the 4 million residents of Sundarbans deltas driving bread winners to cities.

Thousands of people, mostly working men, toiling as construction workers, gardeners or daily-wage labourers in the cities, are likely to miss puja festivities this year.

“The sadness that surrounds the day of Durga idol immersion is evident everywhere in Sundarbans before the pujas,” MP of Jaynagar Lok Sabha constituency in Sundarbans, Tarun Mondal told PTI.

“More than 40 per cent of residents have left their homes to work in Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is difficult for the near and dear ones to enjoy puja festivities without them,” says Mr. Mondal.

More than half the puja organisers in Sundarbans, where community pujas are held, have backed out due to lack of initiatives among the delta dwellers.

“Only 18 puja committees took permission to organise puja in Gosaba this year whereas 50 community pujas were held here last year,” says Block Development Officer (BDO) of Gosaba, Amiya Bhusan Chakraborty.