Kolkata Police has made structural stability certificates mandatory for community Kali Puja pandals, while directing police stations to verify entry and exit arrangements and fire department clearances before the festival. The move places temporary religious structures under tighter safety scrutiny after concerns were raised over inspection quality, crowd management and other shortcomings during Durga Puja.
The instructions were issued by Lalbazar to officers-in-charge of police stations across Kolkata. They require organisers to submit structural stability certificates for their pandals and require officers to ensure that each venue has adequate entry and exit gates as well as permission from the fire department.
The directive has also created uncertainty over who will certify the structural strength of temporary pandals made with bamboo and other materials. Several station officers have reportedly sought a standard operating procedure from Lalbazar, including clarification on which department or agency should inspect the structures and issue the certificates. For some high-profile events, such certificates are generally issued by the Public Works Department, but the applicable process for community Kali Puja pandals has not been clearly established in the instructions reported so far.
The issue is significant because pandals are temporary public structures that combine decorative construction with large, changing crowds. Their safety depends not only on the materials used but also on access routes, emergency exits, fire precautions and the ability of multiple agencies to inspect the site before it opens to visitors. The police directive assigns station-level officers a direct role in checking these arrangements.
An organiser associated with Nabajubak Sangha, popularly known as Fatakeshto Kali Puja, said discussions were under way with the police on the certification requirement. In the meantime, the organiser said, written declarations were being obtained from decorators and copies were being submitted to the police and fire department.
Lalbazar has instructed officers-in-charge to personally inspect community Kali Puja pandals in their respective areas. Inspection reports must first be submitted to the concerned divisional deputy commissioners, after which the reports are to reach Lalbazar by 3 November. Senior police officers and deputy commissioners will then conduct on-site inspections on 5 and 6 November, with officials from the fire department, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Public Works Department expected to participate.
The intensified checks follow reported concerns during Durga Puja about the quality of police inspections, crowd-management arrangements and other safety provisions at some pandals. The police have decided to increase monitoring for Kali Puja in response to those shortcomings.
The scale of the exercise is reflected in Kolkata Police data cited in the report: 3,440 community Kali Puja events were held within the police jurisdiction last year. The immediate implementation challenge is to establish a uniform certification process for temporary structures while completing inspections and inter-agency checks before the scheduled November reviews.
