Kolkata is popularly known as the ‘city of joy’. This city is present in the state of West Bengal, India. Kolkata is known for three things. They are the famous rossogolla, the aloo in the biriyani, and thirdly and most importantly for its celebration of Durga Puja. Durga Puja is celebrated in a grand manner in Kolkata. The idols are exquisite and the pandals are awe-strikingly beautiful. There is a competition every year among all the pandals as to who will win the first position and emerge as the ultimate champion. They go to extreme lengths to do so. They can even replicate Burj Khalifa.
There are some famous pandals which people visit every year for their décor and design. Some of them are:
- Tridhara Sammilani
- Ekdalia Evergreen
- Santosh Mitra Square
- Bagbazar
- College Square
- Sreebhumi
- Hindustan Park
- Hindustan Club
- Samaj Sebi Sangha
- Ballugunge Cultural Association
- Deshapriya Park
- Kumartuli Park
- Ahiritola Sarbojonin Durgotsav
- Dum Dum Park
- Lake Town Adibashi Brinda
- Sikdar Bagan Sadharan Durga puja
- Nalin Sarkar Street Sarbojonin Durgotsav
- Mohammad Ali Park
- Mudiali Club
- Shib Mandir Sarbojonin Durgotsav
- Bosepukur Sitala Mandir
- Naktala Udayan Sangha Puja
- Babubagan Club Sarbojonin Durga Puja
- Badamtala Ashar Sangha
- Suruchi Sangha
- Jodhpur Park Puja Pandal
- Singhi Park Sarbojonin Durgotsav
As we saw, Sreebhumi was one of the top pandals people tick off their list as they go pandal-hopping every year during Durga Puja. Every year, Sreebhumi comes up with some remarkable ideas about the making of their pandals. But the idol remains in its raw, traditional form. This year, Sreebhumi Sporting Club created a replica of the world’s tallest building, that is, Burj Khalifa. The pandal is 145 feet in height. They have built it with some 6000-acrylic sheets. Over two hundred fifty workers worked hard to erect this beautiful masterpiece.
Because of its theme, it has become one of Kolkata’s iconic Durga Puja pandal. It shows 100% resemblance with the world-famous skyscraper Burj Khalifa. To make the glamour of the real building possible, it used a lot of laser lights. But it had to halt its laser show after receiving complaints from the pilots.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the Sreebhumi Durga pandal called off the laser show after three pilots of three planes faced difficulty in landing the aircraft. The pilots had lodged a complaint to the air traffic control (ATC). They did this because West Bengal’s South Dumdum airport is located close to the venue of this iconic pandal. In India, laser shows are banned around the airport. This is because of the fact that strong beams of light cause visibility problems for pilots during landing. They might not be able to see the landing ground properly.
State fire minister Sujit Bose said. “Every year, we build one iconic structure as our `pandal’ (marquee). Last year, we had built a replica of the Kedarnath Temple. This year our artist proposed Burj Khalifa. We sent him to Dubai to get every detail of the structure so that a good job could be done,” he said. However, when asked recently, the Puja organizers have claimed that they have stopped the light show keeping in mind the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. The reason was that more people were visiting the pandal because of it.
