Kolkata Durga Puja security arrangements will expand from Tuesday, with additional police deployed across the city as the number of pujas rises to 2,981 this year. Full-scale deployment will begin from Wednesday afternoon, with police preparing for heavy crowds, traffic movement, emergencies and visitor assistance at major pandals and metro stations.
According to information from Lalbazar, the largest number of pujas is being held in the SSD, or Jadavpur, division, which has 685 pandals. The South West Division, covering Behala, follows with 598 pujas. Other divisions include East Kolkata with 335, North Kolkata with 312, South Kolkata with 258, South East Kolkata with 208, the East Division with 193, Central Kolkata with 128, the Port area with 116 and the Bhangar division with 148 pujas.
Police have identified several major crowd-management locations, including College Square, Mohammad Ali Park, Santosh Mitra Square and Allen Park in central Kolkata, along with prominent puja venues in south Kolkata. Police pickets will be placed near each major pandal. Personnel will also guide visitors towards appropriate routes after they leave one pandal and travel to another.
From 4 pm, police officers and other officials will take position on the roads with the deployment, supported by around 20,000 volunteers. Their responsibilities will include helping visitors cross roads, maintaining smooth traffic flow and managing movement around crowded areas. Police have also planned daytime security at 27 pandals because many visitors begin pandal-hopping in the morning and return home or to their neighbourhoods by the afternoon.
The increase in the number of pujas has also led to additional arrangements at smaller venues. Every city division will have police cover at an average of 10 to 15 smaller pandals. Depending on the location, each deployment will be supervised by a sergeant or an assistant sub-inspector and may include between four and eight police personnel.
For mobile security and emergency response, Kolkata Police will deploy 20 heavy radio flying squads in two shifts, 10 special radio flying squads and 30 police control room mobile vans. These vehicles will remain in communication with the traffic police. In the event of an incident such as a fire, police vehicles will escort fire service vehicles to the affected location.
Three Kolkata Police launches will patrol 15 ghats, while another launch will monitor other riverfront ghats. Police will also use 42 watchtowers with binoculars for surveillance. Police assistance centres will operate outside major pandals, while seven mobile police assistant vans will patrol across the city. Traffic police assistant booths will be set up at six locations.
Quick response teams, including combat personnel, will be stationed at nine locations. Fourteen police ambulances and 14 trauma-care ambulances will remain available for visitors. Ten vehicles attached to missing-person squads will patrol to assist in cases involving missing children and elderly visitors.
Security arrangements will also cover public transport access. Police said adequate personnel would be deployed outside 32 Metro stations. The immersion period is scheduled from October 21 to October 24, extending crowd and traffic-management requirements beyond the main days of pandal visits.
