Durga Puja 2022: This Kolkata club’s ‘pet-friendly’ pandal is winning hearts

Durga Puja is around the corner. Puja organisers are coming up with brilliant ideas for this year's pandal themes. Among them, the one envisaged by the Bidhan Sarani Atlas Club of North Kolkata is hands down the most heartwarming of them all. Their pandal showcases the theme of ‘Shelter for pets’. The ‘Asur’ idol has been replaced by two stray dogs who are shown sitting at the feet of Maa Durga, praying for a home.

The ‘Asur’ is depicted as a reckless individual, riding a motorcycle, crushing the puppies under its wheel. He represents people who mindlessly trample over street animals while driving.

Mr. Biswajit Ghosh, the Secretary of the club, told ANI that they went ahead with this theme despite fearing backlash.


We knew that we would face controversy. Earlier Durga idols had ten hands but this year we changed it as we decided to highlight a vital social issue- the ongoing mistreatment of stray dogs. This year we have been honoured with the Cultural Heritage Award from UNESCO,” Ghosh was quoted as saying in an interview with the news agency.

Four police dogs were invited as the chief guests at the inauguration ceremony of the pandal, on Sunday (September 26). The police department shared several photos of the pandal on their Instagram handle. “The evening of Mahalaya saw four members of our Dog Squad -Labradors Molly and Camphor and German Shepherds, Lisa and Dinky- make a very special appearance as chief guests at the inauguration of Kolkata’s first pet-friendly Durga Puja, courtesy Bidhan Sarani Atlas Club, and as you can see from the photos and videos, they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. This marks the first time that our Dog Squad has participated in a Durga Puja,” read the post.

This one-of-a-kind theme is a brainchild of artist Sayak Raj. In an interview with The Print, the artist explained how he hit upon the idea.

The idea for a pet-friendly temple came to him when he read a news-report in May about the Badrinath -Kedarnath Temple Committee filing an FIR against a Noida resident for allegedly hurting religious sentiments after a video of his dog touching the idol’s feet at the temple precinct made the rounds on social media.

“Kedarnath is a shrine of the deity Shiva, who is also referred to as Pashupatinath or the lord of animals. Yet such a controversy happened over a dog visiting the temple,” Raj was quoted as saying to the online newspaper.

There are around 6.2 crore stray dogs and 91 lakh stray cats in India. According to the State of Pet Homelessness Index data nearly 85 per cent of companion animals are without stable homes.

This year let’s take a pledge to save our street smart furry friends from homelessness and untimely death.

Another puja pandal to watch out for would be the Vatican styled pandal created by the Sreebhumi Sporting Club. Styled after the Holy Vatican city, this pandal is expected to be a massive hit with visitors. The pandal was opened to the public on September 25, 2022.