Kolkata: The Kolkata Police officials have decided to deploy police personnel from Tritiya on the streets across the city to manage crowd during Durga Puja this year.
Sources informed that more than eight thousand police personnel will be deployed in the puja pandals whereas several police pickets will be set up for security management.
However, police are yet to find out the number of pujas seek permission this year owing to the pandemic situation. Though the police personnel will be deployed from Tritiya, the full force will be deployed from Chaturthi.
Subhankar Sinha Sarkar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Jt. CP), Headquarters, said: "The police arrangement for the puja days is yet to be finalized. However, the number of police forces will not be reduced even if the number of puja goes down."
Meanwhile, with only 17 days left before the Mahasaptami, the city markets and shopping malls were found flooded with customers for the first time before the festive season on Sunday.
The shoppers were seemingly happy with the offers and discounts provided by the sellers whereas the traders were happy to see the business growing again.
On Sunday evening the crowd management in the New Market area became a challenge to the police as a huge number of people were crossing the road.
According to the traders, the sale on Sunday has gone up by almost 50 per cent which is a good sign. It is expected that more people will start buying things and only three more Sundays will be available before the Bengali's biggest ever festival starts.