After Chorbagan stampede, Nabanna sets crowd and safety rules for Kali Puja and Chhath

The West Bengal government has issued safety guidelines for Kali Puja, Jagaddhatri Puja and Chhath, telling organisers to keep pandals well lit, widen entry and exit routes and let new visitors in only after earlier groups have left, weeks after a crowd crush at north Kolkata's Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal killed 19 people and injured at least 25.

The standard operating procedure from Nabanna, the state secretariat, was reported on Sunday by Sangbad Pratidin, Asianet News Bangla and the news agency IANS. A state official told IANS that dim lighting chosen "for the sake of the Puja theme of Chorbagan" had hindered crowd management. The Declaration could not obtain the text of the order itself.

What the rules say

According to the reports, the guidelines cover three main areas: crowd control, fire safety and lighting. They include:

• No dim, shadowy theme lighting; enough light inside each pandal, at gates and along the whole visitor route
• Safe, sufficiently wide entry and exit at every pandal and ghat, with police reviewing pandal layouts alongside sub-divisional officers
• Enough volunteers for the expected crowd, and visitors waiting outside admitted only after those inside have left
• Police deployment in proportion to the size of the crowd
• Ambulances at major pujas and first aid at every pandal
• Fire extinguishers at every pandal, and fire tenders able to reach within 15 minutes (Asianet and Sangbad Pratidin say 10 to 15 minutes)
• A ban on fireworks around pandals, action against illegal crackers, and sound limiters on microphones
• At Chhath and immersion ghats: life jackets, rescue gear and barricades, disaster-response teams where needed, lighting, CCTV, first aid and separate changing rooms for women

Organisers were also asked to hold coordination meetings with the police, fire service, health centres and municipal officials, Asianet News Bangla reported. Municipal control rooms are to run round the clock from the day before Chhath until the day after.

FIR against Kunal Ghosh

Separately, Kolkata Police have registered an FIR against Kunal Ghosh, the Trinamool Congress MLA for Beleghata, at Girish Park police station in connection with a protest over the stampede, the Millennium Post and The Wall reported. Trinamool, Left Front and Congress supporters had protested at the police station demanding a strict investigation.

Ghosh told the Millennium Post the FIR was "a fallout of the protest" and that he had received a legal notice from the police. He has demanded a probe into what he alleges was the involvement of influential people in the pandal's arrangements. "Even after so many deaths, not a single legal action has been taken against the main influential people, yet cases are being filed against the protesters," he said, according to The Wall. Kolkata Police had not publicly commented on the FIR.

In October, Ghosh appeared at Narkeldanga police station after a complaint filed against him by opposition members, ANI reported, and called for the removal of Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma over crowd and traffic control. It is not clear from the reports whether the two complaints are linked.

Background

The stampede at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin pandal happened during the opening days of Durga Puja in October, when large crowds gathered at the north Kolkata pandal. Trinamool, now in opposition, has accused the police of failures in crowd and traffic control.

The new guidelines come as Kolkata prepares for Kali Puja, which draws large crowds to pandals and temples across the city, followed by Jagaddhatri Puja, centred on Chandannagar and Krishnanagar, and Chhath at the ghats along the Hooghly. Kolkata Police have already announced curbs on goods vehicles and traffic restrictions on 17 roads for Kali Puja night.

What happens next

District administrations and police are expected to inspect pandals and ghats before the festivals. How strictly the rules are enforced at the largest pandals will be the first test of the government's response to Chorbagan.