Devyani Rudra, 60, recalled her earliest memories of Durga Puja from Chittaranjan Park’s J Block: helping her mother, cutting vegetables for bhog — the traditional community meal offered to the Goddess and distributed as prasad — and joining the neighbourhood’s cultural programmes.Rudra and her family moved to CR Park from Delhi Cantonment in 1975. Back then, it was known as the East Pakistan Displaced Persons Colony, established as part of the government’s rehabilitation efforts for those uprooted by Partition. It housed only 15-20 families, mostly government officials. Preparations underway at Mela Ground in CR Park. (Express Photo by Mishal Mussaddique)The celebrations later shifted to Mela Ground and the Shiv Mandir in 1976, now known as Kali Mandir.Five decades later, Durga Puja has become a much larger affair. The colony now has nearly 50,000 residents and hosts around 10 major community pujas, besides several private household celebrations. Lakhs of visitors from across Delhi-NCR descend on the neighbourhood.But as the festivities kick off on October 16 this year, some of CR Park’s old residents feel the celebrations have moved away from the intimacy of a festival once centred on the community.What does a puja cost?At Kali Mandir, the annual Durga Puja budget is around Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore, while other major CR Park pujas have annual budgets of around Rs 80-90 lakh.Story continues below this adThe temporary pandal and tent structure at Kali Mandir alone costs around Rs 25-30 lakh, said Jaya Ray, a member of the Kali Mandir Society and its Durga Puja organising committee. Preparations underway at Mela Ground in CR Park. (Express Photo by Mishal Mussaddique)The bhog operation costs Rs 30-40 lakh. “The kitchen serves at least 7,000 people within about four hours on a single afternoon, with 300-500 kg of food prepared on 10 wood-burning stoves,” Ray added.The five-day cultural programme, featuring dance, music, orchestras and other performances, costs another Rs 5-10 lakh. The Mandir committee also spends on printing, decoration, logistics and the salaries of priests and support staff who work through the year.At other venues, the scale is similarly large.Narayan Dey, secretary of the Mela Ground Durga Puja Samiti, said during the festival, the committee runs a daily langar serving around 10,000 meals. Its pandal has expanded to around 180 feet by 85 feet.Story continues below this adSaurav Chakravorty, General Secretary of K-Block Cooperative Ground, said that they see a daily footfall of around 1-1.5 lakh people during the festival while cultural shows feature artists who fly in from Kolkata and Mumbai.Who pays for the celebrations?Ray said the celebrations were once funded almost entirely by residents. “In the 1970s and 80s, the celebrations relied entirely on personal resident contributions. We would go door to door collecting chanda. Back then, the pandals cost Rs 1 lakh or Rs 2 lakh. But now, that will not cut it,” she said.The major shift came in the early 2000s, when corporate houses and public sector undertakings began sponsoring the pujas. Preparations underway at Mela Ground in CR Park. (Express Photo by Mishal Mussaddique)At Kali Mandir, corporate sponsorships now account for around 70% of the Durga Puja budget, according to the organising committee. Individual resident contributions make up the remaining 30%. Sponsors are given visibility through stalls at the venue, LED screens, backdrops and flexes at the gates.Story continues below this adAt Mela Ground, Dey said the committee puts up panels within the pandal area carrying the names of sponsors.The ecosystem behind the pujasThe scale of the celebrations has also created a wider ecosystem around the festival.Kali Mandir’s idol-making workshop, which began in 1972, produced only around three to five idols a year in its early days. By the late 1980s and 1990s, production had risen to around 100 idols.Today, the Kali Mandir workshop, along with its second workshop at Chandralok Cinema in G Block, produces more than 800 idols every year for puja committees across Delhi-NCR, other parts of India and overseas.Story continues below this adThe idols are made on commission and sold to other puja committees, providing the temple with an additional source of income. While commissioned idols generally cost around Rs 40,000 to Rs 80,000, larger and more elaborate custom installations can cost more than Rs 10 lakh.The workshops also employ artisans and other workers, allowing traditional idol-making expertise to remain within the community.At K-Block, Chakravorty said the idols are constructed completely in-house, from scratch, inside the pandal. At Mela Ground, 250-300 artisans and staff come from outside Bengal to craft the idols on site.But what is lost?The transformation has also brought criticism from some long-time residents.Story continues below this adRudra called it a commercialisation of the festival. “Earlier, there were just a small number of food stalls. And that too, they were set up at no cost. But now the puja venues charge you in lakhs to put up stalls.”She added that cultural programmes used to be conducted by the locals, and then film screenings. “But now, if you see, popular reality show stars and singers fly in for the event, and local talent is no longer promoted. It is more entertainment than the puja itself.”The growing crowds and high footfall have also raised safety concerns, Rudra claimed.“The bhakti of the festivities is getting lost, and the present generation no longer understands that,” she added.