Rajarhat New Town Puja Initiative

Last Thursday, on 18th Oct evening, we held a meeting of all puja committees of New Town. This was held at the Rabi Tirtha auditorium. Justice A Bandyopadhyay, Sgri A.K.Raha PCCF, Dy Commissioner of Police, CEO NKDA and me were there. I learnt that there were about 60 Pujas in New Town. I proposed that (a) we could have a panel of judges to award prizes to Pujas in New Town and  (b) we could consider having all idols congregate at a given point in New Town before immersion on Dashami.
There was enthusiastic support. Some suggested that the single window system for Puja permission needed improvement. Many said that in response to a letter of mine, had actually applied for Green Puja award in Pollution Control Board office. Few hoped that like Jubilee Park in Jamsedhpur, next year there could be a procession of idols in New Town lakes for which a ghat could be built.
Finally, it was decided that:
(i) A Panel of Judges consisting of Justice A Bandyopadhyay, AKRaha, AKPatnaik (retired IAS) - all three residents of New Town - and Ms Ajanta Chakraborty would visit the pandels on Sasthi evening [ it later actually started from 10 pm and lasted till 2 am] ,
and
(ii) On Dashami 24th Oct, afternoon, from 4 pm onward  idols would congregate near Home Town in Action Area I before immersion for a last hour bonding among New town pujas.

Here is a Puja that I visited yesterday:

A Puja in Action Area II : Mahashasthi day

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Here is a clipping from Sakalbela about the US AIA team visit to New Town:

And here ia a link to a Times of India story on the same subject:

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-10-19/kolkata/34583588_1_delegation-visits-futuristic-smart-city-hidco