Over 9,000 priests get Puja dole from CM Mamata

KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government disbursed its monthly financial assistance to the bank accounts of 9,500 Hindu priests before Durga Puja after a list of beneficiaries was made on a war footing post the chief minister’s announcement in mid-September.

Playing a soft Hindutva card to counter BJP’s effort to consolidate Hindu votes, Mamata had announced an honorarium of Rs 1,000 per month before the start of the festive season. The other announcement of constructing houses for poor priests could not be implemented because procedural complications.

‘’It was a tough job. We got one month time to shortlist the eligible priests across the state. Officials in district carried out the job which helped us to comply with the chief minister’s instruction,’’ said an official of the state government.            

Her main rival BJP never misses opportunity to accuse her of adopting minority appeasement policy. “Once the houses for the poor priests will be constructed, it will definitely give us dividend in the next year’s election,’’ a Trinamool leader said.