GUWAHATI: About this time of the year, the Puja idol-making workshops across Assam would have buzzed with activity. But not this year, as the COVID-19 triggered-lockdown and regulations have disrupted schedules and affected the livelihoods of hundreds of artisans across the state.
Take the case of 74-year-old Niranjan Pal of College Hostel Road in the Panbazar area here.
Pal would have never imagined that there would be a season without any major assignment for either Vishwarkarma or Durga idols.
“This is by far the worst year that we have come across in my trade. The pandemic-related restrictions were first enforced at a time when we would have otherwise got started, which is from May onwards till about October-November. So, for the past four-five months now, we have had very little or almost nothing to do. Now we are in a dilemma as the future too is very uncertain,” rued Niranjan.
For the record, Niranjan and his elder brother Chittaranjan have been smoothly carrying forward a 143-year-old legacy, which has for the first time hit a major roadblock.
“Imagine our plight, there’s just about a week left for Vishwakarma Puja and Mahalaya, and we hardly have any major orders to cater to. Some artisans in Kolkata and Goalpara were contacted in January but we had to cancel the arrangement post COVID. There’s literally been no income unlike in the past, and the worst part is that, as an artisan making idols all my life, I cannot abruptly opt for an alternative way of earning a living,” he told The Shillong Times here on Wednesday.
The situation is no different for Uttam Kumar Paul, the proprietor of Silpi Paul and Co, one of Dibrugarh’s oldest idol makers on BC Road near PWD Colony.
Uttam, 52, is a third generation idol maker, shouldering a 65-year-old tradition in the Upper Assam city.
“The raw materials needed for making idols could not be stocked in the dry season because of the lockdown since the latter part of March. So, we are in a situation where we neither have any orders from clubs or residential pujas nor any resources, be it material or money. We had approached the chief minister and applied for the artisans’ aid of Rs 2000 under a scheme, but to no avail till date,” he said.
“Worse still, the burden of interest for loans taken earlier is growing by the day, and we are staring at something very uncertain as the virus has spread among communities now,” Uttam said.
The organisers too are in a state of indecision and despair.
“We normally start work before a month. But this year, we are in a fix because of the pandemic. There has been no activity and we haven’t placed any order as yet. We have scheduled a meeting this Sunday to decide how to go about in adherence with the government guidelines,” Jishu Das, secretary of the organising committee of Chatribari Sarbajanin Debo Puja Sthan here, one of innovative puja pandals of Kamrup Metro district, said.
The puja committees reportedly had a preliminary meeting recently with the Kamrup Metro district administration and decided on performing “Ghot Puja,” a solemn ritual, as an alternative. However, no guidelines on the celebration have been issued by the government as yet.