Choudwar: Over 20 artisan families in Choudwar area of Cuttack district who are generally busy this time of the year preparing foil backdrops for idols of gods and goddesses are jobless this time around. Like many, they too blame coronavirus for this.
The festive season is just around the corner. By this time, hundreds of artisans living in Chashapada, Paikarapur and Godipatana areas would have their hands full trying to meet customer demands.
The situation, however, has changed. “The puja committees give us advance money at the beginning of the year and we start work on the orders accordingly. However, this year, we are yet to receive any order,” an elderly artisan rued.
“We know why our loyal customers have not contacted us yet. They are also in doubt if they can observe the puja in a way as they have been doing over the years. Hoping the battle against coronavirus will be won, we have bought all the materials used in decorating the idols and have stocked them up,” another man said.
Some of the artisans have already started work on the idols hoping that the restrictions will be relaxed.
If the restrictions on observing pujas are relaxed and the puja committees contact us, we may not have sufficient time to meet deadlines. That is why, we have started working in advance, many local artisans including Ramchandra Giri, Bibhuti Bhushan Rout and Ashis Giri said.
Ramchandra Giri, a senior artisan from Paikarapur added, “Even though silver tableau has already been a trend, the demand for ‘Jari Medha’ (foil tableau) remains. In 1960, we used to sell this type of tableau for something around Rs 60. Now the same tableau is selling at something between Rs 10,000 to 1.5lakh”.
Tableaux from Chaudwar are in high demand in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Dhenkanal, Chandikhole, Jajpur etc. But this year, coronavirus has hit us hard, Giri added.
Several other artisans observed that many of them have already changed their vocation amid the COVID crisis. “To feed their families, some are selling vegetables while some others are selling grocery items. The government should help us get out of this crisis,” said Sudhakar Panu.
Notably, over 70 artisans from Choudwar and Cuttack sent a letter to the government through the district collector seeking assistance. But the government is yet to act on their demand, local artisans said.
PNN
