The West Bengal government will begin distributing Durga Puja grants to clubs from tomorrow, with each committee eligible for financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh, Chief Minister Shubhendu Adhikari announced at a state-level inauguration programme held at Eden Gardens. The announcement places the administration of one of Bengal’s largest public festivals alongside a wider network of police jurisdictions, local clubs and community organisers.
The announcement was made during a grand Agomoni programme marking the beginning of Durga Puja celebrations on Mahalaya. Addressing the gathering, Adhikari said the government would start providing the grants to clubs from the following day. He also thanked Puja committees that had decided not to accept financial assistance after responding to his appeal.
According to the report by Sangbad Pratidin, around 200 clubs have declined the grant. The chief minister thanked these committees from the inauguration stage, while maintaining that the government had decided to provide Rs 1 lakh to every Puja committee. He had earlier discussed the grant with Puja organisers at a meeting at the Milan Mela Prangan.
The grant decision follows uncertainty over whether larger clubs would continue to receive government assistance. After the change in government, Adhikari had indicated that large clubs might not be given financial grants. At the subsequent meeting with Puja committees, however, the government announced a uniform grant of Rs 1 lakh for all clubs.
The chief minister then appealed to committees organising large-budget Pujas to refuse the assistance. “My appeal to the large-budget committees is that you should not accept financial help. I will thank you,” he said, according to the report. The 200 committees that declined the money were subsequently acknowledged at the Mahalaya programme.
The announcement also included figures on the number of new Puja events being organised across the state. Adhikari said West Bengal had recorded 12,400 new Pujas this year. Of these, 400 would fall under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Police, while 12,000 would be organised in areas overseen by the state police.
These figures indicate the scale at which the festival is administered across urban and non-urban areas. Puja committees operate through local neighbourhood networks, while policing arrangements determine how events are monitored and managed. In Kolkata, the additional events will therefore be handled within the city police’s existing festival-management framework, while the larger number under the state police will be administered across other parts of West Bengal.
The grant announcement was made at a time when the scale of Durga Puja celebrations had become a subject of political debate. Opposition parties had repeatedly questioned the growing size and expenditure associated with the festival. The government’s announcement, together with the figures on new Pujas, came during a public inauguration programme that also formally extended greetings for the Sharadotsav celebrations.
The government is scheduled to begin disbursing the grants to eligible clubs from tomorrow. The report does not provide further details on the application process, disbursement mechanism or conditions attached to the assistance.
