Kolkata: Major Durga Puja organisers across Kolkata were directed to temporarily bar visitors from their pandals on Saturday night, after a deadly stampede at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin pandal left at least 19 people dead and 25 injured. The administration moved swiftly to prevent fresh crowd build-ups at other high-footfall venues across the city.
Prominent pujas, including Tala Prattoy, Alipore Sarbojanin, Chetla Agrani and Ballygunge Sarbojanin, were asked to suspend public entry. The event at Allen Park was also called off, an official said.
At Santosh Mitra Square, organisers curtailed the number of people being allowed inside. Puja committee president Sajal Ghosh said: “We cannot ask every visitor to enter. And have scaled down the entry of visitors.”
Kolkata Police described the restrictions as a precautionary and temporary measure. A senior officer said: “Wherever we are getting the information regarding major rush, we have asked the puja organisers to stop allowing people there. This is a temporary decision, and we may take a call tomorrow.”
Similar instructions were issued in Bidhannagar, where several large Salt Lake pujas were told to stop admitting visitors. “We have taken a call and asked puja organisers to stop allowing people inside the pandals,” a police officer said.
Nearly 3,500 Durga Pujas are being held in Kolkata, as reported by The New Indian Express. The state administration and Kolkata Police are expected to review the situation at a meeting on Sunday, a senior bureaucrat said.
Amit Shah Meets Injured At Hospital
Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited injured victims at Apollo Hospital on Sunday and put off other scheduled engagements, including his visit to Belur Math. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari also met those undergoing treatment.
Deceased Identified
The deceased were identified as Sriparna Poddar (26), Mithu Mandal (45), Akriti Kumari (17), Barnali Haldar (17), Subham Shankar (33), Arati Sarkar Biswas (45), Tagar Baij (37), Tania Biswas (18), Kalpana Jana (46), Bikash Bhattacharya (66), Sneha Bhandari (20), Sandip Baiz (14), Piyali Pramanik (25), Priya Samaddar (18), Pranjal Sarkar (13), Dilip Ghosh (59), Dipali Ghosh, Abhishek Srivastava (38) and Ayangsh Kumar Srivastava (7).
