Kolkata Police have begun their final round of pre-Durga Puja inspections at eight major pandals, focusing on crowd movement, fire safety, CCTV surveillance, entry and exit arrangements and traffic management across some of the city’s busiest celebration zones.
The inspection began at 11 am on Tuesday at Allen Park on Park Street, a new addition to the city’s major puja circuit. The venue, known for hosting Kolkata’s Christmas and New Year celebrations, will host a Durga Puja organised by Kolkata Sanatani Sangha, a group headed by several BJP functionaries.
Police Commissioner Ajay Nand identified Allen Park as a significant crowd-management challenge because of its location on Park Street, where cultural programmes are also scheduled. The organisers have planned cultural performances including baul music, Chhau dance, and appearances by Kailash Kher and Shankar Mahadevan. The programme will also include an aarti modelled on the Ganga aarti in Varanasi and the distribution of prasad.
“Traffic should be smooth and visitors should face no inconvenience,” Nand said during the inspection, underlining the need to balance festival activity with the movement of vehicles and visitors on Park Street.
Allen Park has a long association with large public celebrations. The Park Street Carnival began at the venue in 2007. After 2011, the Bengal government took over the carnival and renamed it the Christmas Festival, which became a prominent part of Kolkata’s year-end cultural calendar. The proposed Durga Puja will add a new large-scale event to the park’s public-use history.
The police commissioner’s inspection covered eight pandals in all and concluded at Santosh Mitra Square, which has been among the city’s biggest crowd-pullers. The other pandals visited were Agrani, Suruchi Sangha, Deshapriya Park, Tridhara Sammilani, Ekdalia Evergreen and College Square.
“There is a standard procedure for inspecting major pujas. Primarily, we look at crowd circulation and the safety and security of visitors. We also examine fire safety, entry and exit arrangements, and CCTV surveillance,” Nand said.
He said preparations were progressing satisfactorily but cautioned that visitor numbers could change unexpectedly if a particular puja theme became a major attraction. Police would discuss such contingencies with organisers, he said.
At Santosh Mitra Square, Nand was questioned about allegations that visitors arriving from Sealdah, including by train and metro, had been made to take long detours through bamboo barricades to reach the venue. Asked about this year’s route plan, he said there would be “zero harassment” for visitors.
The inspections come as the city prepares for a festival period in which crowd circulation, emergency access and traffic diversions will determine how safely visitors can move between major pandals. The police have indicated that discussions with organisers will continue, particularly where anticipated crowds could change because of a popular attraction or programme.
