No specific alert of untoward incident during Puja: DGP

DGP Surajit Kar Purkayastha, on Thursday, urged people not to panic unnecessarily as there is no specific alert regarding any untoward incident in the state during Durga Puja.

Purkayastha held a press conference along with the commissioner of Kolkata Police Rajeev Kumar in Nabanna on Thursday.

Assuring the people that the police have taken all sorts of measures to ensure safety and security of people in the state during the festival, he said, “There is nothing to panic. There is no specific alert of any untoward incident during the Puja. I would request people not to lend their ears to any rumour and to inform the police as soon as any rumour monger is spotted.”

He also assured that immediate steps would be taken if anyone lodges complaint alleging that they have been forced to give donation. “Till now 82 people have bern arrested on charges of demanding donation forcefully,” he said.

Adding to Purkayastha words, Kumar urged people to dial the city police’s helpline number 100 if they were threatened to give donation against their will.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister had directed the police in a recent meeting to take stringent action as soon as they receive any complaint regarding harassment of traders for donation.  

In a bid to extend help to people at all times, additional control rooms have been opened to assist the people during Puja. At present, there are 4000 Durga Pujas in Kolkata and 22000 in rest part of the state.

The state police have deployed a total of two lakh policemen, civic police volunteer and home guards to ensure safety and security of people. Out of these, there will be around 14000 policemen and 6000 civic police volunteers and home guards in Kolkata. The policemen have been deployed at their respective areas since Chaturthi (Wednesday) as people start visiting Puja mandaps two to three days in advance.  

The Kolkata Traffic Police has also introduced a cell phone app to help people get proper direction to their destinations. Already 17000 users have downloaded the app in their cell phones.

The app is unique in nature for its feature of uploading photograph of a missing a child which can be viewed by all users of the app.

Thus, it would become easier to find the child’s parents. A traffic guide was also published to help people easily find the route they should take to visit a particular Puja mandap.