In addition to the late rains that have made matters worse for idol makers at Kumartulli, the market downturn has only compounded their problems with most Puja committees slashing budgets.

“With the input costs having doubled this year, we were forced to hike the prices of idols. But, with customers not willing to shell out the extra buck, we have scaled them down considerably,” said Babu Pal, secretary, Kumartuli Mritshilpi Sanskriti Samiti.

A sign of rising input costs — The price of a bamboo has increased from Rs 45 to Rs 100. Ropes are now dearer by Rs 15 from the earlier price of Rs 36, while the price of hay has more than doubled from Rs 80 to Rs 190.

“We have been forced to hike prices this year with the spiraling input cost. The bigger Pujas like the ones organised by Subrata Mukherjee till last year shelled out Rs 80,000-90,000 for the idols. For the same this year, the costs have jumped up to around Rs 1 lakh. For the smaller idols, the costs have escalated by almost Rs 3,000,” said Babu Pal.

On the late rains, Babu Pal said: “We are working overtime to prepare the idols in time. Due to the rains, however, most of the idols have been damaged. Even as we are trying to dry them with candles and oil lamps, several puja committees have not got their deities on time.”

This year, idol makers say, Puja committees insisted on buying smaller idols to save costs. “Puja committees have gone in for smaller models this year to cut costs,” said Babu Pal.

... contd.