Assam approves grant for Durga Puja pandals

An artist applies the final touches to an idol of goddess Durga, at a workshop ahead of the Durga puja festival, in Tezpur.
| Photo Credit: ANI

GUWAHATI

The Assam Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on October 17 approved a grant-in-aid of ₹10,000 for each of 6,953 Durga Puja pandals across the State.

This is seen as a step to dissuade puja committees from forcing people to donate for the festivities.

“The State government is against the ‘Chanda’ (donation) culture. I appeal to the Durga Puja committees not to raise funds from the public forcibly,” Mr. Sarma said a day ago.

The grant for Durga Puja pandals is reminiscent of the ₹2.5 lakhs annual grant the BJP-led government in Assam had come up with for namghars or neighbourhood prayer halls and ₹10 lakhs each for 1,008 religious places of historical importance, including temples, mosques, and churches, ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections.

The largesse for the puja pandals came less than a month after the Trinamool Congress slammed the State government for imposing ₹300 per committee for organising Durga Puja and ₹100 per immersion of the idol.