The Bengal government on Monday announced Rs 50,000 each for all registered community Durga Puja organisers in Bengal and waived the fees for civic and fire services, as it did during Durga Puja 2020.
Speaking later at a puja coordination meeting at Netaji Indoor Stadium, chief minister Mamata Banerjee told the organisers that puja would be celebrated following all Covid norms, just like last year.
“There is nothing new to announce. Last year, Puja organisers faced a harrowing situation. There was no sponsorship, no money from advertisements. Hence, what the government had done last year will be done this year too…. There are around 2,500 registered Puja committees in Kolkata; 36,000 across Bengal, around 1,500 all-women Puja committees apart from housings and local clubs…. We request all Durga Puja organisers to follow Covid rules exactly like they did last year,” the chief minister said.
Puja committees will be responsible for implementing the pandemic protocol.
“Puja committees must be aware of all the decisions regarding Covid protocol last year…. Like last year, there should be sanitisation, mask distribution (by Puja committees).... The more we use masks, the better are our chances to remain safe from infection,” Mamata said.
The government, she said, will decide after the bypolls, scheduled for September 30, whether the night restrictions would be lifted during the Puja.
The decision about whether the Durga Puja Carnival will be held on October 18 will be taken later, Mamata said.
She did not clarify whether last year’s restrictions on entry into pandals, ordered by the high court, would be in force in 2021, too.
The court had asked the Puja committees to put up barricades at a certain distance around the pandals and also ordered that only 15-25 members of the respective organising committees could enter the pandals.
Organisers of the Tridhara Sammilani puja in south Kolkata said they would stick to all Covid restrictions that they followed last year.
“Unless there is a fresh court order to amend last year’s restrictions, we are going to follow all last year’s rules,” said Debasish Kumar, the general secretary of the puja committee and also a member of the board of administrators of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
The chief organiser of College Square Sarbojanin Durga Puja Pandal Committee, Bikash Majumdar, said this year they had reduced the size of their pandal.
At the meeting, the chief minister also announced that idols would be immersed between October 15 and 17.
Before Mamata spoke, the chief secretary announced the waiver of civic and fire services fees and the grant to all registered organisers.
“All decisions of the government have been announced by the chief secretary because of the election model code of conduct,” Mamata later said.
