After Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath declared Dev Deepawali festival as a provincial fair in Uttar Pradesh, which will be held at Varanasi city. It is observed in Ayodhya each year with lakhs of clay lamps.

This has brought in hopes to clay potters. The potters of Barasat Duttapukur not only supply colourful lamps to these festivals but they also export them to various countries. Additionally, they provide lamps for Deepawali festival within Bengal. These days in every neighborhood of Duttapukur, artisans are busy making these lamps. Despite the cyclone Dana alert, production is continuing with various precautions. Fear prevails in Palpara, one of the major colourful clay lamp production hubs due to cyclone. With Kali Puja round the corner, the potters in Chaltaberia, Palpara, under Duttapukur police station, are extremely busy, working overtime, not only giving shape to lamps but also putting colours to them. Some are panch-pradip (five-wick lamps), others are tree-shaped lamps, or lamps, which are elephant or horse-shaped.

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In every house, the rooftops and courtyards are filled with earthen lamps. But the heavy rains, earlier this month, have played spoilsport and forced them lag in their production. However, the rain relief in between, the artisans are working day and night to keep up to the demand. Now, these artisans are worried about cyclone Dana. The artisans fear heavy rains and strong winds caused by the cyclone will severely damage their work. The lamps made in Chaltaberia are in much in demand. States like Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand and countries like Canada, the USA, Australia, and Japan import these lamps in large quantities.

Ananda Pal, a clay artisan of Duttapukur said that the economy and hopes of thousands of potters depend on this festival each year. However, they do not have adequate infrastructure support like sheds and are not even paid fairly. “This is because they lack financial infrastructure to export their products and have to rely on middlemen,” he said. Swami Paramatmanandaji, a monk and mahamandaleshwar of the renowned Mahanirvani Akhara of the Dashnami community in Haridwar, who is also chief of Naga monks community in Bengal, said that if the Indian Sanatan festivals in West Bengal were promoted by the state government like UP chief minister does, it would significantly boost not only the livelihood of the potters but also the economy. “By declaring Dev Deepawali festival as a provincial fair, tourists from not only across India but across the globe come to Banaras and Ayodhya. The promotion of religious festivals enhances economic activity,” he said.