Kolkata: As tearful devotees scrambled to touch her feet one last time and seek blessings of Maa Durga, relentless efforts of the police and the state administration in the past 10 days ensured a peaceful, safe and secure festive time for Kolkatans.
Kolkata Police in the city and West Bengal Police in other parts of the state worked overtime in the past few days to avert any untoward incident during Bengal's biggest festival. Though the Vijaya Dashami was observed on Friday, the police are still on their toes in order to maintain and manage crowd and traffic as lakhs of people are participating in the immersion processions throughout the state.
Wishing all Subho Bijaya, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said: "Subho Vijaya is the day for all to come together. We meet people and exchange good wishes during this time and this is the tradition of Bengal."
The police made an elaborate plan for both crowd and traffic management during the Puja days. People from all over the world pour into Kolkata during this time of the year and people keep visiting famous Puja pandals round-the-clock.
Additional policemen were posted at different locations to maintain crowd and traffic. Cops were posted at Puja pandals as well where they did not allow the crowd to gather.
A video of a constable of Kolkata Police's Reserve Force, Ilias Miya, posted at Tridhara's Puja pandal in South Kolkata has gone viral on social media. The video shows how tirelessly the rank and file of the Kolkata Police worked to maintain the crowd from the day of Chaturthi to Navami. Again from Dashami the police played a major role in ensuring the safety of those gathering at various ghats for immersion.
This is the first time that the KMC has put special type of nets to ensure that no one ventures beyond the restricted area during immersion. Cranes and payloaders have been arranged for immediate removal of the idol structures. A separate demarcated place at the ghats has been marked for the dumping of flowers, leaves etc.
Rajeev Kumar, Commissioner of Police, visited all the ghats on Saturday evening to take stock of the steps and measures taken to ensure safe immersion. On Friday, there was immersion of 1,900 idols. The immersion will continue till October 22.
The women team of the Kolkata Police, Winners, played a crucial role as they kept patrolling across the city during the Puja to ensure that women were not harassed. They took action against those found disturbing the women or taking their photographs with "wrong purpose".
There were rampant raids to check reckless riding of motorbikes. In the city and its adjacent areas, action was taken against those who were found riding two-wheelers without wearing helmet. Bidhannagar Police also took necessary measures in this regard.