New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Monday (August 22, 2022) that the amount paid to various community Durga Puja committees will be increased this year, beginning in late September. The announcement comes at a time when West Bengal’s cash-strapped government has been forced to cut a number of emergency expenditures. The announcement was made by CM Banerjee during a preparatory meeting with representatives from the various community puja committees in Kolkata.
Banerjee also declared that all state government offices would be closed from September 30 to October 10 in observance of the annual autumnal festival. ‘Durga Puja will be observed as a government holiday from September 30th to October 10th… Durga Puja committees received Rs 50,000 in financial assistance last year. Committees will receive Rs 60,000 this year’, Mamata Banerjee said.
This equates to a Rs 25.8 crore payout to the 43,000 registered community Durga Puja committees this year. She herself admitted during the announcement that she is making this decision despite facing a severe cash crunch as a result of the Union government’s refusal to pay its dues to the state.
Mamata Banerjee stated that this year she is dedicated to making Durga Puja special because the 5-day festival has been inscribed on the UNESCO representative list of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. A procession covering a large part of Kolkata will take place on September 1 to thank UNESCO for the heritage designation, and tableaux from major Durga Puja committees in Kolkata, Howrah, and Salt Lake will be featured.
‘Similarly, there will be tableaux in the district headquarters. UNESCO representatives will be on hand to witness the city’s colourful procession’, Banerjee explained. However, economist P.K. Mukhopadhyay believes that increasing the dole amount for Puja committees is a waste of money given the state exchequer’s debt.
‘The debt-to-GDP ratio is already above the danger level of 30%. Such expenditures are extremely wasteful in this situation. It appears that the state government has lost sight of its priorities’, Mukhopadhyay stated. The opposition parties, particularly the CPI-M, believe that this is a move to reassure members of community puja clubs ahead of the panchayat elections next year and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
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