With less than 100 days to go for Durga Puja, the biggest festival in West Bengal, Aroop Biswas, minister in charge of the power department, assured people of uninterrupted power supply during the festive season across the state. This year, Durga Puja will begin from Mahalaya on October 6 and will end on Bijoya Dashami on October 15. The week-long festival is expected to be a low-key affair due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Biswas held a meeting with the officials of the electricity department on Thursday and announced that they can give permission for electric line from Mahalaya (an invocation to the goddess Durga urging her to arrive on Earth) if Puja committees wish to avail the facility for uninterrupted power supply during the festive season.
It was decided that more than 2,300 mobile vans will be pressed into action to assist puja organisers to ensure steady electricity supply and to handle any situation related to power and its safety.
In the Calcutta Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) area, 170 mobile vans will work round the clock for power supply management.
“We are ready to meet the power requirement of all the puja committees and I would like to assure that there won’t be any problem,” Biswas said.
“We will complete all power safety and security related issues by September 30 across the state. There will be a special control room from Panchami (on October 10) onwards to address all the grievances related to power supply,” he added.
Last year, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had announced a 50% concession on electricity bills for the committees, which was 25% in 2019.
Moreover, no tax will be levied by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and also on the fire-fighting equipment.
In West Bengal, there are nearly 37,000 community pujas, including 2,509 in Kolkata.
Based on last year’s suggestions of the ‘Global Advisory Board’ chaired by Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee that puja pandals should not be covered in order to allow enough ventilation, this year too committees will be asked to keep their pandals well ventilated.
Saswata Basu, general secretary of the Forum for Durgotsab, welcomed the state power department’s decision. “Like every year, this time too we know that the state government will do their best to provide us with all kinds of assistance for the steady supply of power during the festive season,” he said.
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