Durga Puja celebrations subdued in Darjeeling due to Nepal unrest

Darjeeling (West Bengal) [India] September 13 (ANI): As Nepal remains engulfed in ongoing political unrest, this year's Durga Puja celebrations in Darjeeling are expected to be financially impacted by the situation, admitted officials from the Durga Puja committee on Saturday.
While speaking to ANI, the officials of the Durga Puja committees admitted that this year's budget for the pandal is set to be reduced as there are no sales on this year's festivals.
Deepak Chakraborty, secretary of Panitanki Byabasai Samity Durga Puja committee, said that this year, no pandal will be established, and a puja will be performed in the temple. He further admitted that even 10 pc of the shops are opened this festive season.
"This Pooja is organised by our committee. The budget for this Pooja is 95 pc collected from the shops. The shopkeepers perform this, Pooja. However, in the current situation, 10 per cent of the shops are not open. There are 948 shops, out of which 900 are closed; only a few are open, but there no customers" Chakraborty told ANI.

Chakraborty noted that the budget has been reduced due to a lack of sales and donations for the shops. This year's budget was initially large because the committee was preparing to host the 50th Pooja, and the festival attracts many visitors from Nepal. However, because of the current situation in the neighbouring country, this year's Pooja was cancelled just 3-4 days ago.
"The maximum number of visitors are from Nepal. If they don't come now, it will be bad. In the Covid situation, we reduced the number of Poojas twice. This time the Pooja was for 50 years and our budget was very big. But this Pooja was cancelled 3-4 days ago, we are very sad" added Chakraborty.
As per Chakraborty, a meeting will be held to decide the budget, and he emphasised that even though the government is providing 1 lakh, 10 thousand for the festival, a huge amount of money is required to conduct one pooja; hence, a decision will be made at 3 pm in the afternoon over the budget.
"All the shops are closed. We are getting Rs. 1,10,000 from the government. But we are spending a lot of money on one Pooja. So, we will take a decision at 3. I don't think there will be a big Pooja this time," added Chakraborty.
Echoing similar sentiments, Bidyut Das, president of the Sibaji Sangha Durga Puja committee, said that this year is challenging because they are not receiving donations. Das further adds that there is a 20% deduction in the budget of Pandals.
"We are facing many difficulties. Businessmen from Nepal used to give us vegetables, donations...but we are not getting donations this year...The budget for the pandal has been reduced...We have made a deduction of 20% in the budget as of now..." Das told ANI.
He further added that customers from Nepal are not visiting the markets. "We don't have customers from Nepal visiting the markets...This has never happened before...The puja depends on our business..." added Das.
Meanwhile, hours after former Chief Justice Sushila Karki was sworn in as the country's new interim Prime Minister, Nepal's Parliament was formally dissolved late Friday, and later fresh elections were scheduled for March 5, 2026.
Announcing the decision, the President's Office said the dissolution was approved in the first cabinet meeting. which was convened by Karki at 11 pm, marking the start of a six-month transitional government
"Honourable President Shri Ram Chandra Poudel, as per the recommendation of Honourable Prime Minister Shri Sushila Karki, has dissolved the current House of Representatives with effect from 11:00 PM on Friday, Bhadra 27, 2082 BS. The date for the election of the new House of Representatives has been fixed as Thursday, Falgun 21, 2082 BS (i.e. 5 March 2026)", the statement from the President's office read. (ANI)