Durga Puja begins amid Covid, rain forecast

Kolkata: Unlike yesteryears, Kolkata bore an altogether different look on Shashti evening with people preferring virtual tours of the Puja pandals instead of physical visits in the wake of Covid as the number of infections in a single day touched 4,157 on Thursday. The figure stood at 4,069 on Wednesday.

Though the grandeur of Durga Puja remained intact, only a handful of people were found turning up at the Puja pandals to watch idols of Goddess Durga and her entourage from a distance of 5 to 10 metres.

Keeping the Covid situation in mind, all Puja organisers maintained precautionary measures at the pandals. Again, the police are ensuring implementation of the Calcutta High Court's order of five metre for smaller pandals and 10-metre for larger ones as 'no-entry' zones.

Usually, pandal hoppers even from districts start pouring into Kolkata from the day of Chaturthi itself and it continues till Navami. Long queues outside big Pujas, including Sreebhumi Sporting Club, Chetla Agrani, Naktala Udayan Sangha and Suruchi Sangha used to be the usual sight every year. This year, the number of people turning up has considerably fallen compared to previous years.

In the new normal, Facebook Lives and Watch Parties on social networking sites have come up as the favourite tool for people to get a glimpse of their chosen Puja pandals. Even every Puja ritual is being telecast.

The police are, however, posted at all pandals to maintain safe distance among visitors and other norms in the wake of the pandemic. In normal times, the police were found asking pandal hoppers to keep moving ahead to avoid gatherings inside a Puja pandal. But this time the scenario is different. Those who are turning up at the Puja pandals have preferred to travel in their own vehicles instead of using public transport. The police have ensured maintaining a smooth flow of traffic across the city.

Major Puja organisers including Sreebhumi, Chetla Agrani, Badamtala Ashar Sangha, 95 Pally, Shib Mandir Durga Puja and Behala 11 Pally have circulated the links using which one can easily take virtual tours of their Pujas.

Sanghita Pal, who went to visit Suruchi Sangha from Behala, said: "It is impossible for us to avoid pandal-hopping. But we have come here in our vehicle. At the same time, we are maintaining physical distancing and other Covid norms while watching the idols."

With 34,000 Durga Pujas across the state, the scenario is quite similar in the districts where both the police and Puja organisers have taken all necessary steps to avoid gatherings at this critical time of Covid.