S Kol puja club apologises for assault on phuchka seller

Kolkata: One of the largest Durga Puja organisers in south Kolkata issued a public apology on Wednesday for an assault on a phuchka seller by a committee representative the previous night.
The assault in front of the Singhi Park Durga Puja that left the phuchka seller dazed and his wares scattered on the road drew the ire of pandal-hoppers. The video of the incident — taken by a reveller and uploaded on social media — became viral by Tuesday evening, triggering a call to boycott the puja.This forced the organisers to issue the public apology.
“Last night, an unintentional incident happened before the puja pandal that none in the puja committee supports. The committee has taken necessary action against the individual responsible for the incident. The phuchka seller who incurred loss has also been compensated. We believe there will be no repeat of the incident in future,” the Singhi Park Sarbojanin Puja committee posted on Facebook.
But the words did not cut ice with critics with several pointing out it meant little after a poor street-food vendor had been assaulted and humiliated.
When TOI spoke to multiple committee members, they all termed the incident unfortunate and avoidable but denied knowledge of what had prompted the assault and what actions the organisation had taken against the committee member concerned. tnn