Agartala: Agartala’s Lal Bahadur Club formally began preparations for its 74th Sharadiya Durga Puja with a Khunti Puja ceremony held today at Banamalipur, marking the traditional start of idol-making and pandal construction months ahead of the festival.
Khunti Puja involves the ceremonial worship of a bamboo post at the site where the Durga idol will be sculpted, ritually inaugurating the artisan’s work for the season.
This year’s pandal will recreate Hyderabad’s Golconda Fort, the 16th-century Qutb Shahi fortress famed for its acoustics and diamond-trade history, continuing the club’s reputation for elaborate thematic pandals — its 2022 edition reimagined the Vaishno Devi shrine and drew widespread attention across the city.
BJP Vice-President Subal Bhowmik and Agartala Press Club President Pranab Sarkar attended the ceremony as guests, along with office-bearers of the club.
With a Durga Puja tradition stretching back more than seven decades, Lal Bahadur Club remains among Banamalipur’s most recognised puja committees, its pandal typically drawing large crowds during the five-day festival, scheduled this year from October 17 to 21. Durga Puja remains Tripura’s largest religious and cultural festival, observed as a public holiday and marked by pandal-hopping across Agartala’s clubs each October.