First Durga puja in Kolkata red light area

Ostracised from Durga Puja pandals, sex workers of Sonagachi have for the first time broken shackles of social prejudice to organise their own puja.
"It is the largest festival of Bengalis and when the rest of the city is celebrating why should we be left out? So, we decided that we should have our own puja pandal this time," Bharati Dey of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Samiti (DMSC), who works for the rights of sex workers, told PTI here.
But the sex workers ran into difficulty when the Kolkata Police did not allow the pandal which would encroach on a portion of the foothpath.

The sex workers challenged this in the Calcutta High Court and received permission to go ahead with the puja.
"We had a budget of Rs 2 lakh," Dey said.
Around 7000 sex workers of Sonagachi, Asia's largest red light district in north Kolkata, contributed Rs 20 each while volunteers also contributed.
"We are following all the religious rituals. One of our staff who is a Brahmin agreed to conduct the puja. We also hired two 'dhakis' (drummers)," said the activist.
A six-feet high Durga idol has been procured for worship during the four day festival which begins from today.