Dakshin Sarbojanin Kalikata

Dakshin Kalikata Sarbojanin Durga Puja – A Bhawanipur Institution Since 1940

Dakshin Kalikata Sarbojanin Durga Puja, often identified in puja circles by its code KSS-1940, is a long-standing community Durga Puja committee based in Bhawanipur in South Kolkata. The committee has organised the annual worship of the goddess from its address at 16B Priyanath Mullick Road, placing it in one of the city’s most puja-dense neighbourhoods, close to the many celebrated pandals of the Bhawanipur–Kalighat belt.

The committee dates its Durga Puja to 1940, giving it more than eight decades of continuous celebration. Over the years it has been recognised for the community and social-welfare dimension of its festival rather than only for pandal craft. In the 2023 Kolkata Shree awards announced by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Dakshin Kalikata Sarbojanin Durga Puja was named among the winners in the “Sera Samaj Kalyan Puja” (Best Social-Welfare Puja) category, alongside Hindustan Park Sarbojanin, Bhowanipore 75 Palli and Tala Barowari.

Recognition of this kind reflects a wider trend in Kolkata’s puja culture, where committees are increasingly honoured for blood-donation camps, medical aid, relief work, and outreach to the underprivileged undertaken around the festival. For a crowded South Kolkata locality such as Bhawanipur, a socially engaged puja committee also serves as a year-round neighbourhood institution.

Like many established Sarbojanin pujas, Dakshin Kalikata Sarbojanin balances tradition with contemporary presentation. While detailed records of individual year themes are not broadly indexed, the committee’s longevity and its Kolkata Shree recognition mark it as a respected name in the city’s southern pandal map, drawing regular visitors during the Saptami–Dashami window.

• Established: 1940 (KSS-1940)
• Address: 16B Priyanath Mullick Road, Bhawanipur (South Kolkata)
• Recognition: Kolkata Shree “Sera Samaj Kalyan Puja” award winner