Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced Rs 50,000 each for all community Puja organisers in Bengal and waived the fees they normally have to pay to the civic body and fire services.

She added that the Puja organisers would need to pay only half the electricity bill they run up, whether with CESC or the state-run WBSEDCL.

As Mamata made the announcements at her annual meeting with Puja organisers at Netaji Indoor Stadium, the audience of nearly 6,000 broke into applause that continued for a while.

Struggling to arrange the funds in a year of pandemic and lockdown, Puja organisers had turned up in strength, eager to hear what the government had in mind for them.

They perked up when Mamata said: “Taholey Puja kintu hochchhe, hobe (So, the Pujas are happening). Let’s lock down Covid.”

She, however, repeatedly reminded the organisers to take the virus seriously and follow all the protocols. She said there would be no “carnival” — the pre-immersion road show — on Red Road this time.

“Ami apnader jonyo ki korte pari (What can I do for you)? Sudhu gyan dilei toh hoy na (Sermons aren’t enough). The economic situation is so bad. You will probably not get advertisements and sponsorship this year; how will you hold the Puja?” she wondered aloud.

She added: “Anyway, we’ll try to do as much as we can.”

She mentioned the funds crunch her government was facing, and the money it had had to spend to manage and control the pandemic.

“It’s true that we haven’t got money. It’s also true that this time the Puja committees are in deep trouble. I’m aware of that,” the chief minister said.

“Ami toh apnaderi gharer lok, ar eta amader jatiyo utsav (I’m one of you, like family, and this is our premier festival). Since the problem is deeper this time, the state government will give Rs 50,000 to every Puja committee.”

The amount is double what her government had offered last year to the state’s about 37,000 community Puja organisers.

Before Mamata could finish, the organisers had begun chanting: “Mamata Banerjee zindabad.”

While the officially recognised community Pujas — those that have police permission — number 37,000, many smaller community Pujas are held without official sanction across the lanes and alleys of the state’s towns and villages.

Mamata asked the police to grant permission to the older among these Pujas, which means the number of recipients of the government’s grant could rise this year.

“Several committees have been organising Puja for almost 10 years now but have not received official permission. I request the police to grant permission to such Puja organisers,” Mamata said.

Puja organisers said Calcutta had around 1,200 such Pujas and Bengal, as a whole, some 6,000-odd.

Saswata Basu of the Hatibagan Sarbajanin Durgotsav Committee said all the Puja committees were “indebted” to the chief minister.

He lauded Mamata’s gesture in recognising the smaller Pujas. “What’s most touching is that she realised our plight and doubled the grant,” he said.

The Puja largesse comes amid a single-minded BJP campaign to paint Mamata as “anti-Hindu”, and follows the recent announcement of a monthly grant for poor Hindu priests that many view as a sop to the majority community ahead of next year’s elections.

Aware of the criticism, Mamata herself broached the subject, saying the aid for the Hindu priests did not mean her government was unsympathetic to the other communities’ needs.

She said all religious communities could approach the government for help.

“If a Christian father (priest) approaches me, a Buddhist or a representative of the Jains approaches me, I shall do the same. Karon policy kokhono discriminate kora jaye na (There cannot be any discrimination in policy),” Mamata said.

In the audience were representatives of various religious communities — something Mamata ensures every year to emphasise the Pujas’ cross-community appeal. Among them were monks from the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission and representatives of the Christian, Sikh, Muslim and Buddhist communities.

“Pujo mone rakhben Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isai sabai mileyi korey (Remember, all communities together celebrate Puja),” Mamata said.

She cited how, before she had taken the mike, “representatives of all the religions spoke the same language of pluralism”.

Other offers

Hawkers: 81,000 to get Rs 2,000 ahead of Puja

Asha workers: Monthly hike of Rs 1,000

Civic volunteers and Green Police: Monthly hike of Rs 1,000

Anganwadi workers: Retirement benefit of Rs 3 lakh