Kolkata: One of the four Durga Puja clubs selected by Raj Bhavan, Kolkata for the Durga Ratna Awards has refused to accept it, demanding that Governor C V Ananda Bose instead take measures to ensure the Centre releases funds under the 100-day work scheme to pay wages to the workers of Bengal.
The four selected Pujas are Tala Prattoy Durga Puja, Kalyani ITI Durga Puja, Bandhudal Sporting Club, Baranagar and Netaji Colony, as learnt from Raj Bhavan sources. Out of these, the Kalyani club has refused to accept the award.
The head of this Puja committee, Arup Mukherjee, who is a TMC councillor of Kalyani Municipality, said that they are not willing to accept this award. He said that the Governor should instead take prompt measures to ensure that the Central government releases the funds it has been withholding under the 100-day work scheme, which has led to non-payment of wages to the workers who have already done work under the scheme.
He said that his party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had even organised protests in Delhi and similar agitation was seen outside Kolkata’s Raj Bhavan but the Governor does not seem to take any active steps to get the funds released.
This Kalyani Puja club had made it to the list for the Durga Ratna Awards for ‘grandeur and visual delight’.