Adhikari, though, added that the role of the puja organisers and permission-issuing authorities will also be probed.
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday ordered an investigation into the role of temporary home guards deployed at a Kolkata puja pandal where a stampede on Saturday killed 19 people.Taking a swipe at the previous TMC government, Adhikari also said his administration was carrying the “baggage of rubbish” left behind by the erstwhile regime.Nineteen people died and 25 were injured in the stampede at Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata, following a crowd surge amid rain on Saturday evening.The CM said he had sought the list of temporary home guards deployed at the puja pandal to investigate their role in the stampede."These home guards are not new recruits. They were on duty for the third year in a row, following their earlier appointments in 2024 and 2025," he told news agency PTI."We are carrying on our shoulders a massive pile of rubbish as baggage. A clean-up will take time," Adhikari asserted.He pointed out that one of the home guards he tried to talk to at the pandal early this morning "could not even understand, let alone speak, Bengali".
"My views about the disaster changed after I visited the site, compared to what I was initially briefed. The accident took place at the common entry and exit gate, and not inside the puja pandal, which was dimly lit. I shudder to think of the consequences if this had happened inside. No one knows where the death toll would have reached," Adhikari said.He said that, instead of separate entry and exit gates, a single opening divided by a rope held by home guards served both purposes."When it started to rain, they simply dropped the ropes and took shelter to save themselves from getting drenched," the chief minister claimed, suggesting that an absence of an entry-exit divide led to the commotion spiraling out of control.Adhikari, though, added that the role of the puja organisers and permission-issuing authorities will also be probed."The organisers will also have to shoulder responsibility.
There were problems with the theme as well. We are keeping under the scanner the Kolkata Police and fire services department, which issued the necessary licenses and should have had these issues rectified beforehand," he said.Adhikari also said that personnel of the Kolkata Police, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and fire services department have been kept out of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which will be headed by a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court, provided the state receives the nod of the Chief Justice.Kolkata Pandal stampede: Seven accused remanded to 10-day police custodyThe Bankshal Court on Sunday remanded seven people arrested in connection with the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal stampede to 10 days of police custody. Police had sought 14 days of custody.Defence lawyer MD Yashim Raheman claimed that the accused were outsiders who had come to witness the Puja celebrations.He said the court had granted custody until October 28, while police had sought remand until November 1."We informed the court that these individuals were outsiders; they had come to witness the Durga Puja celebrations. Upon observing the heavy crowding--where many people were in distress--they stepped in to assist with rescue efforts...Regarding the police custody (PC), the court has granted it until the 28th. Everyone has been remanded to police custody until the 28th. The police had requested custody until the 1st, but the judge granted it until the 28th," he told news agency ANI.Rain, overcrowding and narrow space contributed to stampede: LocalsResidents of Kolkata’s Chorbagan area on Sunday blamed sudden rainfall, limited space, heavy crowds and inadequate deployment of volunteers and police for the stampede at a Durga Puja pandal that claimed 19 lives on Saturday.They said the rain forced visitors inside the pandal to wait for the weather to improve, while those waiting outside grew restless and tried to enter the already overcrowded marquee.Pramod Gupta, who lives near the Chorbagan puja pandal on Radha Madhav Lane, said the queue of visitors stretched up to Mahatma Gandhi Road, around 700 metres away.“Everything was fine till the rain started,” he said.Gupta said the downpour triggered a sudden rush, with people inside trying to leave the pandal as more visitors pushed in from outside.
(With agency inputs)