MillenniumPost
Bengal

Thousands brave rain, throng pandals

Kolkata: Kali Puja and Diwali passed off peacefully in the city and the districts on Thursday with thousands visiting the puja pandals despite intermittent rain reported from several areas.
Many others were, however, found to be soaked in the spirit of Deepavali, the festival of lights and enjoyed various fire crackers producing all sorts of illumination at homes. Many preferred to stay indoors due to the weather condition.
It may be mentioned that the bursting of firecrackers were checked to a great extent, compared to the previous years as cops kept a close vigil. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had instructed the police administration to be on alert as some people could attempt to create trouble.
The Kolkata Police have, however, arrested around 572 persons for bursting sound crackers and also for misbehaviour. Police have also seized 362 kg sound crackers and also liquor of around 23 kg.
The city police officers were conscious to check the indiscriminate use of banned sound crackers. Raids were being conducted at various places, especially in the lanes and bylanes of the city to check untoward incidents. A total of 125 complaints have been lodged with various police stations regarding the same and probe has also been initiated.
Additional police deployments were made throughout the city to check any untoward incidents.
In many parts, police personnel conducted patrolling in auto-rickshaws so that people do not have clues about who they are and what they are upto. Around 100 auto-rickshaws were learnt to have been used for police patrolling. Four control rooms were set up at Lalbazar. Bidhannagar Police have arrested 81persons for various reasons including the bursting of illegal sound crackers and misbehaviour.
The Kolkata Police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation have made special arrangements so that people do not face difficulties during immersion as well. The immersion started at various ghats of Hooghly from Friday and would continue till Sunday.
The disaster management teams of the city police have been posted at all the immersion ghats in the city. Four teams of river patrolling have been set up too. Police pickets have been set up at 245 points on various streets to look into the security issues during immersions. Kali Puja was celebrated with much pomp and grandeur at various temples across the state including Dakshineswar, Tarapith and others.
West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company limited (WBSEDCL) carried out routine inspection at 6,185 puja pandals throughout the state among which 2,778 Puja Committees have been penalised for illegal power consumption and a bill of Rs 34.86 lakh has been claimed for drawing 8,708 KVA from such committees.
Around 1,441 LT mobile vans have been deployed round the clock to counter any fault/power disruption throughout the state. Similarly for HT feeder maintenance 711 mobile vans have been deployed for emergency purpose.
On Kali Puja evening, the power demand had reached to 5600 MW, said Biswarup Mukherjee, AGM-CC, WBSEDCL.
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