Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik issued instruction to the Cuttack Municipal Corporation in this regard on Sunday. He issued the direction considering the proposals from local MLAs and different puja committees in Cuttack city, a release from CMO stated.

As a result, the puja organisers will not have to pay the ground rent for organising community puja on government land this year.

Earlier, different clubs and associations organising celebration of festivals in public places had approached the elected representatives of their areas to take up the matter. They wanted the CMC to waive the ground rent to help them provide better facilities to visitors at the pandals in the city.

It may be noted that festivals like Ganesh Puja, Dussehra, Kali Puja, Laxmi Puja and Kartikeswar Puja are held on pandals for community celebration by the associations and clubs in different places of Cuttack every year.