Kolkata Police will deploy personnel and around 20,000 volunteers across the city’s 2,981 Durga Puja pandals, with enhanced crowd, traffic and emergency management measures beginning before the main festival rush. Police personnel will be on the streets from Tritiya, while the full security arrangement will become operational from the evening of Chaturthi, according to a report citing Lalbazar.
The number of pandals has risen by more than 400 this year, increasing the challenge of managing visitors across the city. The largest concentration is in the Jadavpur, or SSD, division, which has 685 pandals. Behala’s SWD division follows with 598, while East Kolkata has 335, North Kolkata 312, South Kolkata 258, Southeast Kolkata 208, East division 193, Bhangar 148, Central Kolkata 128 and Port division 116.
Special arrangements are being made around major pandals including College Square, Mohammed Ali Park, Santosh Mitra Square and Allen Park, as well as large pandals in south Kolkata. Police pickets will be positioned near prominent venues, with officers monitoring entry and exit routes and helping visitors move between pandals. Police officers and personnel will take charge of street-level arrangements from 4 pm every day.
The police plan also accounts for daytime crowds. Authorities expect many visitors to attend pandals in the morning or afternoon before returning home or to their neighbourhoods in the evening. Adequate police deployment has therefore been planned at 27 pandals during the day. In addition, each police division will cover an average of 10 to 15 smaller pandals, with teams of four to eight personnel led by a sergeant or assistant sub-inspector.
For rapid response and surveillance, Kolkata Police will deploy 20 Heavy Radio Flying Squads and 10 Special Radio Flying Squads in two phases. Thirty PCR mobile vans will patrol the city and remain in contact with traffic police. The vehicles will also assist fire tenders in reaching a pandal or surrounding area in the event of a fire. Forty-two watchtowers will provide elevated surveillance, while police assistance centres will operate near major pandals.
Seven mobile police assistance vans will patrol the city, and traffic police assistance booths will be established at six locations. Quick Response Teams comprising armed commandos and combat force personnel will be stationed at nine locations. Police have also prepared 14 police ambulances and 14 trauma-care ambulances for medical emergencies. Ten Missing Persons Squad vehicles will search for children and elderly people who become separated from their families in the crowds.
The arrangements extend to public transport and the immersion period. Police deployment has been planned outside 32 Metro stations because of the expected increase in festival-related passenger movement. During idol immersion, three Kolkata Police launches will patrol 15 ghats and another launch will monitor additional ghats. Immersion will take place in phases from October 21 to October 24, with police and rescue teams maintaining vigilance at the riverfront locations.
