Prepping up for the biggest spectacle

With the city gearing up to host the Durga Puja carnival next month, the state administration is making arrangements on war footing to ensure the festival can be celebrated in the best possible manner.

The mood for the Puja has already set in with pandal-hoppers now rushing to stores to buy dresses to look their best during the four days of the festival. The idols and pandals are being worked on so that they can be ready by October mid-week, keeping enough time in hand for the finishing touches.

However, a section of people are also working in silence but with a sense of urgency to ensure all is safe and secure when the festival arrives. The state administration and other stakeholders that ensure every year the Puja is spent without any hindrances have already put their workforce in action to ready the city for the revelry.

The Kolkata Police is already on the drawing board devising strategies to ensure security and smooth traffic movement. Recently, Commissioner of Police (CP), Kolkata, Vineet Kumar Goyal directed the officials to be more vigilant ahead of the Puja. Sources said just like the previous year, this time too, the city police will be introducing a guide map. Pandal-hoppers who wish to visit popular mandaps in different places of the city can take the help of it. This will also direct them to the nearest facilities.

Key zones such as the pandals, ambulance or medical assistance, police directional post, entry or exit points for pedestrians, police assistance booths, Metro rail stations, subways, overbridges, emergency exits and no vehicles zones are to be found in the map. This apart, maps for traffic circulation, which includes North and Central Kolkata, South and South-East Kolkata, Port area and South Suburban (Jadavpur division) and South-West (Behala division) areas are likely to be compiled. A dedicated control room will be made functional.

A meeting was also convened by Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Firhad Hakim to discuss measures relating to idol immersion. Every year on Dashami, Durga idols are taken for immersion at the city ghats. This year, Bijoy Dashami is on October 24 but the state administration has given permission for immersion for two additional days.

KMC, police and Kolkata Port authorities take several measures every year to ensure safety during the immersion process and the cleaning of the ghats after the ritual. This year, KMC has already conducted meetings with the Kolkata Police. Recently, meetings were also held with the Port authorities.

It is learnt that KMC will be in charge of preparing all the ghats from north to south for immersion while the Port and police authorities will be maintaining vigilance on the water. Special attention will be given to big ghats such as Babughat, Ahiritola Ghat, Baje Kadamtala Ghat and Doi Ghat.

The Port authorities are learnt to have assured KMC that besides the police, they will be deploying several lifeboats. Also, steps will be taken by the civic body to ready cranes which will be lifting the idols out of the water after the immersion to keep the Hooghly River clean. Like every year, this time too, the civic body will be taking measures to keep the ghats clean.

Hakim is learnt to have given strict instructions to ensure there is no environmental pollution. KMC officials have also been instructed to ensure there is no accident like last year where a payloader skidded and hit a man who had to be hospitalised.

At a time when dengue cases are apparently on the rise in the city, KMC has sent an advisory to all Durga Puja committees to prevent their premises from becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

In a notice issued by the KMC, it said that experts have expressed concern over the accumulation of rainwater in the cut-ends of vertically implanted bamboo used in pandal construction. The advisory read: “Durga Puja, the biggest socio-cultural festival of Bengal, is at the doorstep. The process of constructing Puja pandals by using bamboo structures has begun in different places around the city of Kolkata. Experts apprehension is that due to accumulation of rainwater in the cut ends of vertically implanted/inserted bamboo poles, the dengue-bearing species Aedes aegypti will breed therein in greater numbers, as a result of which people living around the Puja pandals will fall victim to dengue.”

The advisory further said potholes in and around Puja pandals will turn into a “big source of danger if they remain unnoticed.” In a bid to prevent this, the advisory read: “To resolve the problems, please seal the cut ends of bamboo with sand or mud or wrap the cut ends with pieces of cloth and level the potholes in and around the pandal areas. Besides, bamboo structures built, or to be built for displaying advertisements, too need to be kept free of mosquito larvae by undertaking the same measures as specified herein. Hopefully, you will realise the gravity of the problem and help resolve it wholeheartedly to prevent dengue in the city of Kolkata.” The civic body may also install bio-toilets in certain points in the city near pandal areas.

As for repairing battered roads before Puja arrives, Kolkata Police have yet again sent another list of roads to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, and Public Works Department, among other government agencies, requesting urgent repair work and cleaning.

During monsoon, craters have surfaced on several roads in the city which is posing a severe problem to vehicular traffic in the city. Several road accidents, especially concerning two-wheelers, have been taking place almost every day because of the deplorable road conditions. Traffic guards had earlier sent a list of roads that needed immediate repair.

Presently, Lalbazar, the headquarters of Kolkata Police, is learnt to have sent yet another list of roads that need urgent repair works before the Puja begins next month. It is learnt that about 330 roads need repair works. However, it is not just the battered roads but also the accumulation of garbage on the road. About 226 roads need to undergo cleaning work.

Police are learnt to have communicated to the KMC that about 142 roads in the city have open vats and these should be cleaned early morning during Durga Puja time. Further, the KMC has been asked to install lights at 95 places.

Meanwhile, the state power department is taking certain measures to ensure uninterrupted supply. State Power minister Aroop Biswas said the demand for power during Durga Puja this year is expected to cross 10,000 Megawatt (MW). He also mentioned that the power department is ready to supply uninterrupted power during Durga Puja if the demand increases. The minister further added that last year as many as 44,478 connections were given to Puja pandals which may increase this year. “We are prepared to supply obstruction-free electricity during the Puja days. My request to the Puja committees is to refrain from joining wires and using pipeline wiring. Also, please engage licensed electricians for the electrical works,” said Biswas.

The minister informed that during the Puja, the WBSEDCL will operate 3357 mobile vans while the CESC will operate 170 emergency mobile vans. He also announced that WBSEDCL will operate a round-the-clock control room which has already started functioning and will continue till Jagaddhatri Puja. The numbers are 8900793503 and 8900793504. CESC will start their round-the-clock control room soon for the Puja committees. The numbers are 9831079666 and 9831083700.