Hindu Chatra Sangha Submits Memorandum Addressed to CM, Proposing Poor Friendly SOP for Durga Puja

On Wednesday, the Hindu Chatra Sangha members submitted a memorandum in the DC office, Cachar addressed to the CM Himanta Biswa Sharma where they raised concerns about the bar set over the income of the poor and deprived sections during Durga Puja last year due to the poorly planned SOP and proposed some changes for this years SOP. Speaking on behalf of the people from several walks of life, the Hindu Chatra Sangha's memorandum stated- 

"Due to the ongoing Corona pandemic, the economy and the livelihood of the people of the state and the country has already been effected to a great extent. In view of the upcoming Durga Puja, we, from Hindu Chatra Sangha have a proposal to be presented before you regarding the SOP for Durga Puja. The following are the points we want you to consider, keeping in view the overall safety of the people and maximum economical benefit from the Puja season. 

1) The pandals for Puja should be allowed to be created big but open and a definite number of persons (40-50 preferably) should be allowed to enter the pandal at once, at any given time. Creating bigger pandals will allow people to maintain physical distancing, thereby following the basic rules against Corona pandemic and limiting the number of visitors at a time will further help regulate the protocol in true sense. 

2) No bar should be set regarding the height of the Durga Murti as the Idol makers are the worst hit due to such restrictions and the murti height hardly has any impact on the rise or control on the spread of Corona.

3) Wearing masks and sanitisers should be made mandatory inside every pandal.

4) Night hours should be kept open for pandal hopping as that will help reduce the crowd at the day or evening time, by distributing the crowd over a period of about 20 hours. Setting up a restriction over pandal hopping in the night hours results in people accumulating outside the pandals at the day time or evening period, which makes it tough for the pandal committee to maintain the crowd at their respective pandals as well. 

5) Every kind of transport should be allowed to operate and not only the two wheelers or private vehicles, as the poor section of Rickshaw pullers, Auto and Tuktuk drivers have a lot of hope from the festive season and setting up a bar against their income will create adverse effects for them.

6) Street side fast food shops and vendors should not be barred from opening their shop and rather be directed to use masks and sanitisers frequently. The poor has little to benefit the whole year and the Puja brings some cash flow towards them. Let their business not be restricted but regulated properly. 

7) Light and Sound systems use should not be barred from the celebration, as the Light and Sound System providers get to earn from such occassions only and barring them would not just hamper the joy of the puja but also effect the light and sound vendors in the worst manner possible, financially."

The organisation has also emailed the same to the CM for bringing the issue to his notice, as fast as possible.

Ratnadeep Chakrabarty, Aninda Deb, Debanjan Bhattacharjee, Subhasish Choudhury, Ankur Das submitted the memorandum on behalf of the organisation.