Puja pandals no-entry zones for visitors: Cal HC

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed that all Durga Puja pandals in West Bengal be made no-entry zones for visitors in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandals are to be barricaded in order to prevent large gatherings.

A division bench comprising Justices Sanjib Banerjee and Arijit Banerjee, during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation filed by petitioner Ajay Kumar De seeking a curb on Durga Puja celebrations, said only organisers can enter the Puja pandals.

In case of a small Puja pandal, a list of 10-15 people will be prepared who will be responsible for conducting rituals and other activities. Only they will be eligible to enter the pandal. For big Puja pandals, the number should be limited to 25. Their list of names should be displayed outside the pandal and cannot be altered. The court's direction will be applicable for all 34,000 Durga Puja pandals in the state.

Referring to pre-Puja shopping crowd reports, the High Court pointed out that crowding around the markets in Kolkata or small towns has remained unchecked and the same cannot be repeated over the festival's five days.

"The Calcutta High Court said barricades will be put up around the Puja pandals. In case of small Durga Puja pandals, the barricade will be put up five metres away from the pandal while it will double in case of big pandals. The distance will have to be measured from the place where the boundary of the Puja pandal ends," said petitioner's lawyer Sabyasachi Chatterjee.

He reiterated that the state government sought a stay on the court's order which was immediately declined by the division bench.

The court pointed out that there are around 3,000 Pujas organised within the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Police. It is also an admitted position that Kolkata Police has about 25,000 personnel on its rolls and civic volunteers in Kolkata add up to another 12,000. On the basis of 75 to 80 per cent of the entire staff ordinarily being available on any given day in any large organisation, it may be expected that about 30,000 or 32,000 of the personnel may be present on duty during the Pujas. If the Kolkata Police manual for the measures taken during the Durga Puja 2020, is anything to go by, it is evident that in some of the major Pujas more than 200 police personnel have been proposed to be deployed and elsewhere the deployment is anything between 20 and 100. It is inconceivable that Kolkata Police will have enough personnel to man the more than 3,000 Pujas held within its jurisdiction.

The court further added that the Bengal DGP and the Kolkata Police Commissioner have to submit a report (compliance) to the court within four days of Lakshmi Puja.

As many as 2,84,325 Covid patients in the state have recovered from the disease so far out of the total infected patients of around 3,25,028 till Monday. The recovery rate of Covid patients in Bengal stands at 87.48 per cent. Around 3,992 new Covid cases have been found in the past 24 hours. The state saw 63 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours.

Vice-Chancellor of Visva Bharati University Bidyut Chakraborty and 10 other staff members of the university tested positive for Covid leading to a temporary closure of the institute.