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Suvendu Adhikari Ends Durga Puja Grants, Declares Ashtami Dry Day

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Suvendu Adhikari scraps state Durga Puja grants for big committees, declares a dry day on Ashtami and bars DJ music, roadblocks and highway closures.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has rolled out a sweeping set of rules for West Bengal's Durga Puja, ending the state grants that big puja committees received under the previous Trinamool Congress government and declaring a dry day on Ashtami, the festival's most important day. He laid out the changes at a meeting with puja organisers.

The biggest financial shift is the removal of state money for large-budget pujas. Last year, the Trinamool administration handed Rs 1.10 lakh to each puja committee. Adhikari said he would not use public funds to pay for a religious festival. "Big budget pujas please don't take government aid. I will thank you separately," he told organisers, adding that committees which genuinely cannot function without money would each receive Rs 1 lakh after scrutiny.

Alongside the grant cut, Adhikari announced a string of restrictions. National highways may not be blocked for the festival, and 14 designated roads in Kolkata cannot be closed. DJ music is barred for both the puja and the immersion procession. "I urge all puja committees to follow these guidelines," he said.

The measures also carry some relief for organisers. Committees will pay nothing for electricity used during the celebrations, and fire licences will be issued free of charge.

Adhikari further reshaped how the government itself marks the season. In place of the carnival the Trinamool government staged, the BJP will hold a four-hour event at Eden Gardens on Mahalaya, featuring drones and fireworks, along with roadshows. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi would attend, describing it as the state's largest such programme.

The announcements came while the BJP faces criticism over an advertisement promoting the Mahalaya event. The advertisement carried an image of an idol with eleven arms, which the Trinamool Congress seized on, accusing the government of trivialising the Goddess and the state's culture. Adhikari opened the meeting with puja committees by offering an apology.

The new framework marks a clear break from the approach followed for much of the past 15 years under former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose government routinely funded large pujas across Bengal. The dry day on Ashtami is likely to be the change most keenly felt by ordinary festival-goers.

Durga Puja, Suvendu Adhikari, West Bengal BJP, Ashtami dry day, puja committee grants, Mahalaya Eden Gardens, Narendra Modi, Trinamool Congress

 

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