As PIL challenges Mamata govt’s Puja grant, State says ‘they remember public only during festivals’
Challenges to the Durga Puja grant have been filed almost every year. This year, TMC govt hiked the grant to each puja committee to Rs 1.10 lakh
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This year, the government announced a grant of Rs 1.10 lakh per puja committee — a nearly 30% hike from last year’s Rs 85,000. (File photo)The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday began hearing of two PILs challenging the West Bengal government’s decision to hike the annual Durga Puja grant to Rs 1.10 lakh, which is given to over 40,000 puja committees in the state.
Two PILs have been filed against the Mamata Banerjee-led government’s August 1 decision.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Advocate Kishore Dutta, representing the state government, told the Bench of Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Smita Das De that every year, the petitioners file PILs on the same issue. “Only during the Durga puja, they (the petitioners) remember the public. During the rest of the year, they do not think about the public,” Dutta said.
The Bench will hear the matter on Monday.
One of the PILs has been filed by Durgapur resident Sourav Dutta, who has questioned how the state exchequer money can be used for Durga Puja donations.
He had moved court on the same issue last year, but his petition was dismissed.
Challenges to the state’s Durga Puja grant have been filed almost every year.
In 2022, the High Court had imposed conditions on the state government’s grant, including a requirement for puja committees to submit utilisation certificates.
The state government started providing financial assistance to the puja committees in 2018. In the first year, the grant was Rs 10,000. In 2019, it was increased to Rs 25,000. After that, the amount of the grant continued to increase every year. Last year, it was increased to Rs 85,000, and the government distributed more than Rs 350 crore to the puja committees.
Earlier this month, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced 30 per cent hike in the grant to the puja committees. The Rs 25,000 hike of Puja grant – from last year’s Rs 85,000 to this year’s Rs 1.10 lakh – will cost the state exchequer Rs 500 crore. This year, the festival will be held in the last week of September, and the Durga Puja Carnival will be held on October 5.
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