The Chorbagan pandal incident, in which 19 people died in a stampede during Kolkata’s Durga Puja celebrations, has widened into an investigation of crowd movement, structural certification, emergency exits and surveillance failures. Kolkata Police has summoned pandal artist Sushanta Shivani Pal to Lalbazar to examine how the structure and visitor movement were planned.
Investigators are seeking details of the pandal’s design, including how visitors were expected to enter and leave, where they could view the idol and whether arrangements existed to evacuate people safely during an emergency. The police are also examining the role of the artist in the planning and execution of the pandal.
The investigation has raised questions over whether the structure had a structural stability certificate before the puja committee received permission to operate. A special investigation team formed to examine the deaths is looking for the certificate and reviewing whether it was available when the pandal was approved.
The CCTV network around the pandal has created a separate challenge for investigators. Of the 32 cameras installed at the pandal and nearby areas, footage from 16 cameras was unavailable. The cameras reportedly did not record because they were not working. Investigators are examining whether they had already stopped functioning or became defective after installation.
The missing footage could affect the reconstruction of events before and after the incident. Police are examining the available material along with the pandal’s design and crowd-management arrangements to establish how the movement of visitors contributed to the deadly crush.
Pal’s summons has divided opinion in Kolkata’s artist community. Artist Pradip Das questioned the decision to call an artist to the police station, while also describing the incident as a devastating accident. He said Pal had worked for 25 to 26 years and that such disasters could occur at any place.
Artist Rintu Das took a different view of the summons, saying the artist’s design includes decisions about visitor entry, exit, viewing points and emergency arrangements. He said investigators were entitled to ask how the plan accounted for alternative routes, emergency exits and the safe removal of visitors if a problem developed.
The incident is also prompting discussion among artists about how future Durga Puja pandals should balance visual design with public safety. One senior artist said future designs would need backup plans and sufficiently wide exit routes, including an exit width of eight feet in his own work. Younger artist Upasana Chattopadhyay also expressed solidarity with Pal while saying that safety would have to receive greater attention alongside aesthetics and theme-based design.
The police investigation is continuing, with the special team examining structural certification, CCTV failures, the pandal plan and the sequence of events surrounding the deaths. Its findings will determine how responsibility for the safety arrangements is assessed.
