The Bengal government has deployed 18 IPS officers to supervise Durga idol immersions across Kolkata, Howrah, Barrackpore and Chandannagar after a stampede at a Kolkata puja pandal killed 19 people earlier this week. Twelve of the officers have been assigned to Kolkata, while six will oversee operations in the three neighbouring commissionerates, according to an official quoted by PTI.
The officers will supervise immersion-related activities from October 21 to October 24. Individual duty schedules have been prepared for each officer, covering the period during which large numbers of idols are expected to move through city roads and designated immersion routes.
In the Kolkata Police area, Gaurav Sharma, Soma Das Mitra, Rashid Munir Khan, Akash Magharia, Suresh Kumar Chadive and Dhritiman Sarkar will supervise immersions on October 21 and 23. Praveen Kumar Tripathi, Imran Wahab, Shish Ram Jhajharia, Soumya Roy, Parijat Biswas and Siddhartha Dhapola will be on duty on October 22 and 24.
The deployment follows the stampede at the Chorebagan pandal, which the report described as the first fatal incident of its kind during Bengal’s biggest festival in living memory. The incident has brought crowd control and public safety at festival venues and immersion routes into sharper focus as authorities manage the final phase of the celebrations.
The additional supervision covers more than Kolkata’s municipal area. In Howrah Police district, Indra Chakraborty will oversee immersions on October 21 and 23, while Avaru Ravindranath will take charge on October 22 and 24. Palash Chandra Dhali and Dyutiman Bhattacharya have been assigned to Barrackpore.
Abhijit Banerjee and Sandeep Mandal will supervise the immersion process in Chandannagar. The four jurisdictions form a connected urban festival zone around Kolkata, where movement of idols, participants and vehicles can place pressure on roads, public spaces and police coordination during peak immersion periods.
The official did not provide further details on route arrangements, crowd-control measures or the number of personnel supporting the IPS officers. The announced schedules indicate that senior police supervision will continue through October 24, with officers assigned across alternating immersion days in Kolkata and Howrah and dedicated oversight in Barrackpore and Chandannagar.
