Like sugar-free, Pujas should be tax-free, Mamata Banerjee said at a meeting with Durga puja organisers on Friday.

“Sugar-free jemon khaan, temni tax-free Durga Puja (Just like you have sugar-free, Durga Pujas will be tax-free),” the chief minister said towards the end of the meeting with puja organisers at Netaji Indoor Stadium.

Leaders of various religions attended the meeting.

The income tax (IT) department had said it had sent notices to about 30 puja committees in December 2018, seeking details of tax deducted at source on payments made to contractors and event managers.

“Oi income tax deben na pujoy (Don’t pay that income tax). We are fighting this,” Mamata said. “Do we collect tax for Ganga Sagar (pilgrimage)? Do we, for any festival? Then why pay tax for Durga Puja?” Mamata asked. “There will be no tax for the Puja.”

On August 13, Trinamul’s Banga Janani Brigade had organised an eight-hour demonstration in central Calcutta to protest the central government’s decision to serve income tax notices to Durga Puja committees.

The BJP slammed the demonstration alleging that the government was laundering money looted from deposit-mobilising schemes through puja committees.

Within hours of the protest in Calcutta, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said no notice was issued to any puja committee this year.

“The department had been getting information that several contractors who were doing work for the Durga puja committees were not paying due taxes and therefore notices were sent in December 2018,” a statement issued by the IT department had said.

Several puja organisers who attended Friday’s meeting said the chief minister’s call to ignore the IT department’s notice was an echo of what most of them felt while battling earlier notices.

“If we ask dhakis, purohits and artisans to file returns for the payments they have received from us, can you imagine the amount they would charge? What would happen to our budget?” asked an organiser from Beleghata.