Newtown Sarbojanin
What we saw: With Sreebhumi out of crowd-pulling contention this year, the focus was on the five-year-old puja and Rintu Das’s pandal spread over 12,000 sq ft.
The biggest puja in the township is blessed with a huge parking lot. Though the police did not allow cars from Sector V to take a right turn before the flyover and made the entire service road along the pedestrian zone and City Square pedestrian-only, the cars could take a right turn by Galleria Mall and approach the puja venue from the back. This is why the flow of visitors was more from the APJ Abdul Kalam Government College side than the Major Arterial Road. “We are allowing in two batches of visitors from the back side to alternate with one batch from the main road queue. Otherwise the queue from the back is building up faster,” said a police official monitoring the release of ropes segmenting the visitor flow at the main gate around 7.30pm on Navami.
Before that, the flow did not need to be regulated. “It took us barely minutes to walk in after parking the car. The flow is absolutely smooth,” said Abhishek Das of neighbouring Greenwood Park, who had brought his wife and four-year-old son along. At that time, according to police estimates, there were 700 people inside the pandal and 4,000 in all, if one included those roaming in the adjoining fair.
According to cops on duty, Ashtami was the most crowded. “We had to use the rope as early as from 6.30pm,” said an officer.
But at no point in time did the situation turn challenging thanks to the 20-ft wide entry and equally wide exit. There was also a 10ft emergency exit just across. The police also praised organising committee members for being present round the clock.
Organiserspeak: Though an officer, who was on duty both last year and this, felt the footfall was slightly less than last year at the puja, the organisers felt it was the same. “We had hoped the visitor count would increase from 2025 but that did not happen. It stayed the same. On the first Saptami, because of the rain and the Chorebagan tragedy, there was a dip. But the number picked up in the next two days. Crowd pressure continued till 2-2.30am, so we had to use the rope to control entry till that hour,” said secretary Samaresh Das.
Immersion on: Friday.
FD Block
What we saw: FD Block once again lived up to its reputation as Salt Lake’s biggest Puja draw. Yet visitors did not have to jostle. Prasanta Pal’s Gond art-inspired pandal was spacious — spread over 15,000 sq ft —with separate sections that split the crowd and allowed ventilation.
The FD Block pandal, based on gond art. Picture by Brinda Sarkar
At 8.30pm on Ashtami, it took about 10 minutes to walk from the park gate to the end of the pandal, after which it opened into the fair. The flow was smooth, making for a pleasant experience. Despite constant announcements urging visitors to keep moving, people could comfortably click pictures on both sides. The police took over the mic from the committee from Ashtami night possibly as precaution, after a public announcement by a club member had triggered panic and chaos at Chorebagan. “I found crowd management at FD Block satisfactory this year, way better than pujas of the south like Ekdalia and Singhi Park,” said Tathagata Maitra, a visitor from Baranagar.
Outside, the roads leading to Labony Island, City Centre and the Netaji statue were closed to vehicles 3.30pm onwards. “At the Netaji statue junction alone, we have 15 police personnel and 30 temporary home guards deployed, some directing traffic, others to prevent double-lane parking etc,” said a police officer.
Organiserspeak: Block secretary Abhijit Majumdar said they received about two lakh visitors daily, way more than last year. “Footfall here surged after some big-ticket pujas in Calcutta proper began restricting entry, following the Chorebagan stampede. We also got several prizes. So we had to be even more vigilant,” he said.
Lal Mandal, one of the block’s volunteers, said they used 55 bouncers inside the pandal alone. “Our block had issued reusable guest passes, but from Ashtami, the police began taking them away from visitors to curb VIP entries,” he said. “Density of heads inside the pandal was very high all through,” said Majumdar, who was monitoring the CCTV feed from the committee room along with others.
Immersion on: Friday
EC Block
What we saw: The puja in its golden jubilee year is a new entrant to the list.
Siddhartha Mukherjee was in town for the Pujas after six years and was shocked to see how much the Salt Lake pujas had changed. “EC used to be a plus-one after visiting FD Block, but this time it was so crowded that I had to return without entering,” said the man from AH Block who works in Jaipur now.
Visitors rush into the Mahabharata-themed pandal in EC Block. Pictures by Brinda Sarkar
Crowds were contained with ropes and let into the Mahabharata-themed pandal in groups of 100 to 200 at a time. Movement inside the pandal was not free-flowing as installations placed on the ground took away floor space.
With roads blocked at all key approaches, reaching the block was a challenge. A family from Howrah had parked their car under the Metro viaduct, walked to EC and FD pujas and was seen haggling with rickshaw drivers. “We won’t get parking outside any other puja so will have to cover BC and AE (Part 2) by rickshaw,” Subhankar Das told a driver who quoted Rs 350 an hour.
Organiserspeak: Puja secretary Mouli Nath Maji admitted that their location helped a great deal in their popularity. “EC, FD and Labony Estate shared a large footfall. Also, for visitors coming by Metro, the first station in Salt Lake is City Centre, at our doorstep,” he said.
After tasting such success in their golden jubilee year, the block says there will be no looking back. “We will aim to maintain this scale next year too, but the pandal structure will have to be more crowd-friendly and security must be tighter. This time the crowd exceeded our expectations to such an extent that we had got nervous, especially after the Chorebagan tragedy. We are grateful to the police for their help,” Maji said.
AE (Part 2)
What we saw: This year, it was Part 2 which was drawing the crowd and not their neighbouring pandal in Part 1.
In all his years as a rickshaw driver, Manik Gayen couldn’t recall when the road to AE (Part 1) was blocked from the Shiva temple of CAP Camp quarters. This was the puja’s 50th year and their “glow garden” theme did take Salt Lake by surprise.
Pandal-hoppers throng to see the idol in AE (Part 2)
“We have never come to this puja before. We were headed to the Dum Dum Park-Sreebhumi area but entered Salt Lake for a peep. People here suggested BC and AE (Part 2) and both were nice,” said Vijoy Naskar of Thakurpukur on Saptami.
Making hay were the shops in AE Market. “Usually this is a homely puja held in the market’s parking lot but this time it’s in the park and is drawing hoards of visitors,” said Prakash Halder of Maa Manasha Pan Bhandar on the outer ring of the market. “We usually shut shop at 10pm but since Chaturthi, crowds are out till 5am, and so are we. They are buying everything we have, from snacks to cola.”
Organiserspeak: The puja’s secretary Tapas Sengupta said crowd management had been a priority right from their planning stage. “We had a 300ft long ramp winding through the pandal and it was 10-12ft wide. We had one entrance, but more exits — one for general visitors, one for residents and one for emergencies. We knew footfall would be huge so we cancelled cultural events this time.”
On Ashtami night, such was the crowd that police commissioner Rathod Amitkumar Bharat himself came over. Since the pandal featured a play of light and darkness that could pose a risk of people tripping, the commissioner asked for spotlights for the idol to be turned onto the people instead.
“Ropes were tried out to curtail the crowd, but when they were dropped, I myself nearly got knocked over in the sea of people that rushed in. So ropes were discontinued and we allowed free flow,” said Sengupta, whose voice is still hoarse from making non-stop announcements to not push.
BJ Block
What we saw: With several pujas in Salt Lake celebrating their jubilee year this time, they challenged the AJ-BJ-AK triangle, which featured regularly on this top footfall list in the past years. But this time, BJ was the only block to make the cut.
Visitors walk by the BJ Block pandal, modelled on the Somnath temple
BJ Block had built a replica of Gujarat’s Somnath temple with images and motifs of Shiva being projected on it, alongside high-octane hymns like the Shiv tandav stotra.
The crowd was robust, getting diverted into lanes to reduce pressure on the main road and the main road itself, between BJ and AJ Blocks, had ropes to guide pedestrians. Vehicles were frequently diverted from the Kathgola Island to clear this stretch.
Auto driver Babu Mondal felt the crowd was a tad less this year, although those alighting the Metro at Karunamoyee still made a beeline for BJ Block. “The crowd is no doubt good, but it is generally even more. In other years I cannot imagine sitting empty at 7pm on Navami,” said Zahir Hussain, stall-keeper at La Pino’z Pizza in the fair next to the pandal.
“We usually come to Salt Lake in the morning fearing crowds but this time we had a relative over and wanted to show her the lights and the evening vibe. The lighting at BJ Block is excellent and the crowd is managed well too,” said a man from Baguiati.
Organiserspeak: “We weren’t affected by the performance of the two neighbouring blocks,” said the puja’s joint secretary, Arghya Pramanik. “On Tritiya, state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya came to our puja, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari came the next day and from Sashthi, we saw footfall of around a lakh every evening between 6pm and 2am. On Ashtami, the police had to use bamboo barricades to regulate the crowds until 3.15am.”