Drone surveillance has been introduced at crowded Durga Puja pandals across North Kolkata and the Barrackpore industrial belt, with police also widening small exit gates, deploying additional personnel and monitoring the Kalyani Expressway after a series of deaths and accidents reported in the area.
According to a report by Bartaman Patrika – Kolkata, the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate decided to strengthen crowd-management arrangements after the tragic incident at Chorbagan. The police are using drones to assess the actual crowd situation at heavily attended puja venues and are adjusting arrangements based on what they observe.
The commissionerate has issued instructions to puja committees, asking them to maintain an adequate number of volunteers and exercise caution while making announcements over public-address systems. The police have also directed organisers not to allow visitors to remain inside pandals for extended periods when crowd levels become excessive.
Exit gates at venues where the openings were considered too small have been widened, the report said. Police Commissioner Amit Kumar Singh has personally visited several Durga Puja pandals, while assistant commissioners, deputy commissioners and other senior officers are patrolling important locations. The stated objective is to help visitors move through the venues safely and prevent another incident during the remaining days of the festival.
The areas identified as experiencing severe crowding include Nagerbazar, Baranagar, Panihati, Barrackpore, Palta, Ichhapur, Naihati, Halisahar and Kanchrapara. The police have deployed the Durga Bahini at several locations to help manage the crowds. Personnel from central forces, who had arrived in the state ahead of the elections, have also been assigned to duty at some puja pandals, according to the report.
The enhanced arrangements come amid mourning in parts of the Barrackpore industrial belt following deaths linked in the report to the Chorbagan incident. The report does not provide a detailed account of the incident or specify the total number of fatalities, but says the police have introduced multiple measures to prevent a further mishap.
Road safety has emerged as a parallel concern for the commissionerate. The Kalyani Expressway, described in the report as a major focus of traffic police surveillance, has seen repeated accidents since Mahalaya. Two more people were reportedly killed in speed-related crashes, increasing pressure on the police to monitor the route during the festival period.
Police officers are consulting puja organisers continuously and are expected to respond to crowd conditions as they change. Commissioner Amit Kumar Singh said the police had made all necessary arrangements so that people could visit the idols without disruption. The commissionerate’s immediate priority is to maintain crowd control and road safety through the remaining two to three days of the festival.
