North Dinajpur makes online approval mandatory for Pujas

Raiganj: All community Durga Puja committees in North Dinajpur district will now have to obtain Puja permission through an online process. District Magistrate (DM) Surendra Kumar Meena announced that applications must be submitted via the ASSAN integrated portal, which will streamline approvals from all concerned departments, including Land & Land Reforms, Electricity, Fire Services, Police and the district administration.

The District Magistrate convened a coordination meeting with representatives of Puja committees and officials of various line departments at the North Dinajpur Zilla Parishad hall on Thursday. In this meeting, the new guidelines for Puja permission were made public.

Authorities further informed that subsequent meetings will be organised separately for urban and rural areas to monitor preparations and maintain law and order during the festivities. According to District Information and Cultural Officer Subham Chakraborty, nearly 800 community Durga Pujas are celebrated across the nine blocks of North Dinajpur. To ensure smooth conduct of the festival, the DM has directed all Puja committees to apply through the ASSAN portal. The deadline for submission of applications is September 18.

Thursday’s meeting was attended by Raiganj MLA Krishna Kalyani, Raiganj Municipality Chairperson Sandip Biswas, Kaliyaganj Municipality Chairman Ramniwas Saha and senior officials of the Land & Land Reforms department, WBSEDCL and Fire department.