{"id":258061,"date":"2025-03-13T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T07:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/13\/west-bengal-govt-bans-holi-celebrations-at-sonajhuri-haat-in-santinikentan-says-it-damages-trees\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T07:00:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T07:00:48","slug":"west-bengal-govt-bans-holi-celebrations-at-sonajhuri-haat-in-santinikentan-says-it-damages-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/13\/west-bengal-govt-bans-holi-celebrations-at-sonajhuri-haat-in-santinikentan-says-it-damages-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"West Bengal govt bans Holi celebrations at Sonajhuri Haat in Santinikentan, says it \u2018damages trees\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For the first time, the West Bengal government<\/a> has imposed a ban on Holi celebrations at Sonajhuri Haat<\/a> in Santiniketan\u2019s Birbhum district. Officials have cited concerns over potential damage to the lush green cover of the area. The marketplace, a major draw for tourists, is located near Visva Bharati University<\/a>, which holds UNESCO World Heritage<\/a> status.<\/p>\n

Authorities Urge Public Compliance<\/h2>\n

Bolpur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rahul Kumar confirmed the move, stating that banners have been placed around the area to inform visitors. \u201cThe department will seek support from the police and administration to enforce the ban but will also leave it to people for the better sense to prevail,\u201d Kumar told PTI. Tourists, both Indian and foreign, have been requested not to park vehicles or participate in Holi celebrations at the site. Additionally, visitors have been urged not to record videos of the festivities.<\/p>\n

Kumar further clarified that while no direct orders have been issued, groups of people will be prevented from entering the Sonajhuri Khowai belt on March 14, the day of Dol Yatra. \u201cWe are not issuing any diktat, and people in large groups will be prevented from walking to the Sonajhuri Khowai belt on March 14,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Environmental Concerns at the Core<\/h2>\n

Authorities emphasise that the ban is not arbitrary but stems from a commitment to protecting the local ecology. \u201cWhat we want to avert is the assembling of thousands of people during the festival of colours in an area where there is a green cover. The sprinkling of coloured water may cause irreparable damage to trees. Let us take the pledge to save Sonajhuri from any ecological damage on March 14,\u201d Kumar added.<\/p>\n

This marks the first time the forest department has placed such restrictions on Holi celebrations at Sonajhuri Haat. The area became a key attraction for Holi festivities after Visva Bharati<\/a> University halted public participation in its spring festival, Basanto Utsav, in 2019.<\/p>\n

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Visva Bharati University\u2019s Stand<\/h2>\n

A spokesperson for Visva Bharati University reiterated that the institution cannot open its campus to the public for Holi celebrations due to its UNESCO World Heritage designation. \u201cWe are not opening the varsity campus (to all) for the ‘Basanto Utsav’ because of the UNESCO World Heritage status,\u201d the spokesperson said.The spokesperson further explained, \u201cOpening it up for all would mean accommodating more than 5,00,000 people within the ashrama, which Visva Bharati cannot manage in terms of infrastructure and logistics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political Backlash and Allegations of Bias<\/h2>\n

The move has drawn sharp criticism from opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari<\/a>, who has accused the state government of indulging in appeasement politics. \u201cThis has not happened in just one area. Police conduct coordination programs at the time of programs of other communities. We saw this happening during CPI(M) and TMC regimes. But in 2025, for the first time, meetings were held at every police station for Holi. What was the issue in the meeting, this is a special month for the other community and this time Holi is falling on a Friday. So, it was openly said that colours should not be used and Holi should be celebrated,\u201d Adhikari alleged.<\/p>\n

He further claimed that authorities have instructed police to ensure Holi celebrations are wrapped up by 10 a.m. on March 14. \u201cThere will be arrests if someone does something. Birbhum Additional SP said that by 10 a.m., the Holi celebrations in Santiniketan should be wrapped up because it is Friday\u2026 This is happening in Bengal for the first time\u2026 Mamata Banerjee\u2019s police administration is doing politics of divides, it is doing politics of appeasement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While officials maintain that the decision is rooted in environmental concerns, political voices argue otherwise. With restrictions being enforced for the first time, the ban on Holi celebrations at Sonajhuri Haat is expected to remain a point of contention in the days to come.<\/p>\n

(With inputs from Agencies)
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For the first time, the West Bengal government has imposed a ban on Holi celebrations at Sonajhuri Haat in Santiniketan\u2019s Birbhum district. Officials have cited concerns over potential damage to the lush green cover of the area. The marketplace, a major draw for tourists, is located near Visva Bharati University, which holds UNESCO World Heritage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/118783427.cms","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[14829,323,2959,15362,199201,3056,93106,10183,194133,198967,68113,199204,198972,199202,67920,5643,85727,199203,199200,6501,1831],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258063,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258061\/revisions\/258063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}