Announcements urging visitors not to spend too much time clicking pictures of idols or filming themes inside pandals marked Ashtami and Navami, as lakhs of people thronged pujas across the city.
At several pandals, committee members directed visitors inside the sanctum sanctorum to keep moving instead of stopping for photographs. At a few others, police warned that they would seize the mobile phones of visitors whose picture-taking or selfies held up the crowds.
“Do not wait for long inside the pandal clicking pictures on your mobile. The phones will be confiscated. You will have to collect them later from the nearest police station after showing proof of ownership,” an announcement at Maddox Square said on Monday night.
The announcements continued into the early hours of Tuesday as the police struggled to manage crowds.
“Early on Monday, the police asked us to make such announcements over the public address system after inspecting the arrangements in place,” said Animesh Chattopadhyay of the Maddox Square Puja committee.
The stampede at Chorebagan on Saturday evening prompted the government measures. Nineteen visitors were killed and several others injured in a tragedy unprecedented in Calcutta’s many years of festive celebrations.
The police also directed Puja committees to ensure that pandal exits were wider and free of stalls to facilitate emergency evacuation.
Organisers of several pujas held in city parks, including Maddox Square, said Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials called them in the early hours of Monday to enquire about safety arrangements and verify the number of operational exit gates.
“The calls came around 1.30am, and KMC officials said they wanted to cross-check the number of exits at the park. We told them the information was in the application form we had submitted to obtain permission for the puja. The officials said they had been instructed to collect the information again,” said a senior member of a north Calcutta Puja committee.
The surge in visitors continued on Navami. Major pujas across north and south Calcutta drew massive crowds, with queues growing as the evening progressed. In the north, Kumartuli Park, Kashi Bose Lane, Hatibagan Sarbojanin and Nalin Sarkar Street saw huge crowds, the police said.
In the south, popular pandals around Gariahat, Rashbehari, Tollygunge and Behala were also packed. “Since crossing from one side of a road to the other took time, traffic had to wait longer,” a senior police officer said.