Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday said the government may mandate scrapping the practice of Durga puja pandals having VIP gates and stressed the need for clear entry and exit provisions following a stampede here that claimed multiple lives.
Puja organisers, especially the more popular and high-budget ones, often provide special access to 'VIP pandal hoppers' which largely remain clutter-free during peak footfall hours. Special passes are sold to interested puja revellers at a premium, granting them access through VIP gates.
A night after 19 people died and 25 were injured in the stampede at Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata following a crowd surge amid rain, Adhikari said a toned-down Bijoya Sammelani (traditional post-puja cultural reunion) will be held with the puja committees of Kolkata and its suburbs on October 26.
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There, experiences of this year will be exchanged, and steps will be discussed that can be taken to avoid recurrence of such tragedies, he told reporters at the state police headquarters here.
The chief minister said cheques of Rs 5 lakh would be handed over to each of those injured in the stampede at the ceremony as compensation.
"A special team was formed immediately after Saturday's incident. The team has been constituted under the leadership of the state disaster management department secretary, Fire Services DG Anuj Sharma, and Special Task Force ADG Javed Shamim," Adhikari said.
He directed the formation of the team late on Saturday night to examine shortcomings in the arrangements at major Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata.
Elaborating on its mandate, the chief minister said, "The team started working, even as the meeting was underway. It will inspect the safety arrangements at all the puja pandals in the city and take decisions on the spot. If necessary, the number of visitors will be regulated. There will be no separate queues for VIPs."
Officers and inspectors in charge of police stations in the districts have been instructed to visit pandals in their areas and formulate crowd management guidelines and ensure they are strictly adhered to by puja committees, he said.
"There will be no interference in their work.
Adhikari said he would be at the traffic control room at the Kolkata Police headquarters on Sunday evening to monitor crowd movement across the city. "I would like to see things with my eyes and not my ears," he said.
Adhikari said that of the 19 people who died in the stampede, one hailed from Bihar's Muzaffarpur, and the rest were residents of West Bengal.
"We have assigned magistrates and DSP-ranked officers to supervise the process of handing over the bodies to the bereaved families. The officers will remain with the families till the cremations are over," the chief minister said. "For the Bihar victim, I have spoken to the protocol officer concerned, and necessary arrangements are being made.
Adhikari said he will visit the families of the deceased on October 20 and October 21 to offer condolences and hand over compensation cheques of Rs 25 lakh. "I will try to connect with as many families of our state as possible on those two days," he said.
About the 25 people undergoing treatment, the chief minister said, "Twenty-three of them sustained minor injuries and are likely to be discharged soon. Two victims continue to remain in ICU, but I have been told by doctors that their condition was not life-threatening.
He pointed out that personnel of the Kolkata Police, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and fire services department have been kept out of the Special Investigation Team, to probe if there was any dereliction of duty on their part that might have led to the stampede.
On allegations by eyewitnesses that police were nowhere to be found for assistance when the tragedy struck, Adhikari gave the force a clean chit. "All victims' families I have spoken to told me the opposite. They said police even hired cabs from online aggregators to send the injured to hospitals," he said.
The chief minister said Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal will soon write to Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge, seeking his permission to get a sitting judge of the court to head the SIT.
"The team comprises an official from the home department no less than the rank of joint secretary, representatives of the DGP and NDRF, and the state disaster management secretary Rajesh Sinha. If the Chief Justice permits, we will have a sitting judge head the SIT; else we will settle for a retired judge," Adhikari said.
The chief minister also appealed to puja revellers to exercise sensitivity while visiting the pandals. "I would urge people to seek the blessings of Maa Durga with compassion. They should observe the rituals prescribed by scriptures and almanacks," he added.