Kolkata, 08 September (H.S.) : The West Bengal government's appeal to major Durga Puja organisers to forgo financial assistance appears to be gaining traction, with seven prominent puja committees in Kolkata deciding not to apply for the Rs 1 lakh grant announced by the state government this year.

The committees that have opted out of the grant include Rajdanga Naba Uday Sangha, Santoshpur Lake Palli, Tala Prattyay, Chorbagan Sarbojanin, Naktala Udayan Sangha, Santosh Mitra Square and Phoolbagan Sarbojanin.

Rajdanga Naba Uday Sangha has decided to donate the Rs 1 lakh it would otherwise have received from the government to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. The decision was announced by the committee's president and BJP state spokesperson Keya Ghosh.

All seven puja committees announced their decision not to seek the government assistance through social media. Santoshpur Lake Palli thanked Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari for announcing the grant but said the committee had decided not to accept the assistance.

During a meeting with Durga Puja organisers on Monday, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the government would provide financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh to smaller puja committees that apply for the grant. However, he appealed to large-budget puja committees that are capable of raising funds independently to refrain from accepting the government assistance.

BJP MLA and puja organiser Sajal Ghos said on X that the Santosh Mitra Square puja committee associated with him had not accepted government financial assistance in the past and would continue to stay away from the grant this year as well.

Puja committees seeking government assistance will have to submit their applications through the respective police stations. The applications will subsequently be scrutinised and forwarded through the police administration in accordance with the prescribed government procedure.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh