Kolkata will begin preparing Durga Puja safety plans a year in advance after the Chorbagan stampede killed 19 people on October 17, with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announcing a meeting with 8,000 puja committees and promising action against those found guilty.
Adhikari said the meeting at Milan Mela on Monday would focus on safety arrangements for next year’s celebrations rather than only customary Bijoya greetings. The state government will ask organisers to plan for the safety of pandal-hoppers from the beginning of the festival cycle, he said.
“The meeting, to be held at Milan Mela on Monday, will not be limited to exchange of Bijoya greetings. I will urge the puja committees to learn from the Chorbagan tragedy and lay special emphasis on the safety of pandal-hoppers right from the start,” Adhikari said, according to the Times of India.
The Chief Minister said the Special Investigation Team probing the stampede would place safety recommendations before the puja committees and that organisers would be required to implement them. He described the incident as primarily the result of “human error”, while adding that the retired judge overseeing the investigation would examine the remaining aspects. The report is expected within three months.
Adhikari said the state government would make the SIT’s findings public and take stringent legal action against anyone found guilty. He also said representatives of Kolkata Police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation had been excluded from the probe panel because the incident occurred within their jurisdiction. The source report did not provide details of the specific errors under investigation.
The announcement comes as the state reviews crowd management across a festival that drew 66,000 Durga Puja celebrations this year, according to the Chief Minister. Adhikari said there had been no untoward incident apart from the two-minute episode at Chorbagan. He made the remarks while visiting the homes of two victims, Shubham Sonkar and Mithu Mondal, in Maniktala and Shyampukur to offer condolences and assure their families of assistance.
The state is also changing staffing arrangements in government hospitals during the festival period. Health minister Sharadwat Mukherjee said healthcare workers would not be permitted to remain on continuous leave from Sasthi to Lakshmi Puja, ending what he described as a long-standing holiday-like practice in hospitals since 1947.
“Starting today, those who were on leave are being asked to report back to work,” Mukherjee said. From next year, non-medical staff will be assigned a four-day duty roster covering Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami. Doctors and nurses will not have fixed rosters, he said, because they must be available whenever their services are required.
The planned meeting with 8,000 puja committees, the SIT’s recommendations and the retired judge’s report will determine the next formal steps in the safety review. The state has said the investigation report will be filed within three months.
