Kolkata: Be it the artisans of Kumortuli who churn out hundreds of idols at this time of the year or the numerous organisers of community Durga Puja celebrations in Kolkata, everyone is feeling the hard pinch of recession. The five-day Durga Puja - West Bengal's biggest festival that traditionally generates employment and business - will begin on September 24. But preparations have been dealt a big blow by the economic meltdown, with a poor monsoon and rise in prices compounding the problem.

"The average raw material cost has doubled. The price of every substance needed for making idols has skyrocketed," Basudeb Rudra Paul, an artisan in Kumortuli, the traditional potters' colony in northern Kolkata, told reporters. It is Kumortuli's artisans who churn out idols of goddess Durga and her four children that are installed in public marquees across the city, with people coming in to pray as well as admire the crafstmanship.

The basic ingredients needed for making idols are bamboo, mud, hay, paints and clothes. But Rudra Paul said "cyclone Aila has hit bamboo price sharply." Aila lashed the state in late May, devastating large tracts and destroying vegetation. A piece of bamboo - required to make the frame of the idol - that used to cost Rs.25-30 a year ago has to be purchased now for Rs.45-60, he said. The price of hay that is used for stuffing the idols has also gone up from Rs.30 a bundle to Rs.45 a bundle.

Another problem haunting the craftsmen is the shrinking budget of committees that organise community Durga Pujas. The spiralling prices of commodities and vegetables have also hit the craftsmen hard.