The Chorbagan Durga Puja stampede, which killed 19 people and injured 25 others in Kolkata, has triggered questions over the decision to honour the same festival with the state’s ‘Best of the Best Durga Puja’ award in 2026.
The Trinamool Congress questioned the recognition in a social media post on Monday, asking whether spectacle had taken precedence over public safety. The Information and Cultural Affairs Department, in association with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, had conferred the ‘Serar Sera-3’ Devi Durga Samman 2026 on Chorbagan Sarbojonin Durgotsav Samity.
The puja also received awards for best lighting, best pandal and best environment-friendly puja. Referring to the stampede, the Trinamool Congress said the Chief Minister had attributed the problems faced by visitors to the puja theme and low lighting. “Yet the same Puja was recognised for Best Lighting, Best Pandal and Best Environment-Friendly Puja,” the party said. It asked what exactly had been judged and who would take responsibility when a puja recognised as the best experienced a public-safety failure.
The stampede occurred on Saturday evening during Saptami. Residents of Chorbagan said sudden rain, a narrow lane, a heavy rush of visitors and inadequate deployment of volunteers and police personnel for crowd management contributed to the incident. The supplied report did not state whether the authorities had established these factors as the official cause.
Following the incident, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari urged organisers of theme-based Durga Pujas to ensure adequate lighting at venues and provide sufficient entry and exit gates for visitors. “Many pandals are dimly lit in the name of theme puja,” he said, asking organisers to follow the advice of the authorities.
Durga Puja organisers across Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal compete to attract visitors with elaborate theme-based pandals and installations. The scale of these attractions can draw large concentrations of people into narrow urban lanes, making access routes, crowd movement, lighting and emergency exits central to public safety during festival periods.
A high-level committee formed to review safety arrangements at major Durga Puja pandals across the state visited several community pujas in Kolkata on Sunday. The panel includes Disaster Management Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, Director General of Fire Services Anuj Sharma and STF Director General Jawed Shamim.
The committee’s review and the government’s directions to organisers are the immediate official steps following the deaths at Chorbagan. The supplied report did not provide details of any further administrative action, investigation findings or changes to the award decision.
