After GST, cost of pandals shoots up, say organisers

Durga Puja organisers rue there is confusion over the GST slabs on puja mandals.

THIS NAVRATRI, the smaller Durga Puja and Navratri pandals in the city have observed an increase in the overall budget to plan celebrations. Their organisers feel that it is a result of the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST). They rue that there is confusion over the prevalent GST slabs on puja mandals and there are delays in retrieving cash amounts as an increasing number of donations have been coming through cheque payments.

Many mandals believe that the service cost of decoration contractors, stationary, paper has increased after the implementation of GST. This has led to an overall increase in the total cost of managing celebrations by at least 15-20 per cent. “We had a tough time managing funds considering the cost of items required to organise the festival has increased. The mandals are equally confused about the GST rates liable to be paid by them. This has created confusion among pandal representatives,” Nimesh Parkar from Vikhrolichi Durgamata pandal said.

Representatives added that managing advertising funds from companies which previously funded the same mandals for Ganeshotsav becomes an issue. This creates an impact on making it grander. “We have issued bills to contributors based on our understanding of the GST, but we are not sure it is the right slab of GST. As we have not been informed about the way in which the process must be conducted, we have doubts about the acceptance of the bills,” Parkar added.

“Maintaining bills of the items in use has become difficult after GST came into picture. We have also not been able to get any new sponsor or advertising client when compared to the previous year due to a dip in the business after GST,” said Santosh Tiwarkar, who manages a Durga puja pandal in Dongri area.

Complaints against receiving cheque payments for smaller amounts of donations, including Rs 200-Rs 300, have been pouring in. The representatives blame it on demonetisation. “Processing these cheque payments becomes an added responsibility for the mandal workers. Retrieving the cash amounts also takes time,” added Saurabh Bhole from Dadar Maali Navaratri mandal in Dadar.

However, representatives of bigger mandals believe the celebrations have not been impacted much due to the changes. Rupa Roy, general secretary, Maitree Cultural Association in Malad, said, “We did have certain apprehensions before the start of 2017. But when we stepped out and asked people for sponsorships, we were pleasantly surprised,” she said.