Kolkata immersion security has been significantly strengthened, with 18 IPS officers assigned to supervise Durga idol immersions across four cities from 21 to 24 October, according to a West Bengal Police notice reported by Anandabazar. Twelve of the officers will oversee arrangements within the Kolkata Police area, while Howrah, Barrackpore and Chandannagar will receive two officers each.
The police notice, issued on Tuesday, sets out the officers’ names and their duty dates for the immersion period. The deployment will cover Dashami on 21 October, as well as immersion activity on 22, 23 and 24 October. The move places senior police officers directly in charge of monitoring a process that involves large crowds, road movement, riverfront or waterbody access, temporary traffic arrangements and coordination between organisers and the administration.
In the Kolkata Police area, Gaurav Sharma, Soma Das Mitra, Rashid Munir Khan, Akash Magharia, Sureshkumar Chadive and Dhritiman Sarkar will supervise immersions on 21 and 23 October. Praveenkumar Tripathi, Imran Wahab, Sheesh Ram Jhajharia, Soumya Roy, Parijat Biswas and Siddharth Dhapola will be responsible on 22 and 24 October.
In Howrah Police district, Indra Chakraborty has been assigned responsibility on 21 and 23 October, while Avaru Ravindranath will supervise arrangements on 22 and 24 October. Palashchandra Dhali and Dyutiman Bhattacharya have been assigned to Barrackpore Police district, and Abhijit Banerjee and Sandip Mandal to Chandannagar.
The additional supervision follows a reported crowd-crush incident at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata on 17 October, when 19 visitors died. Anandabazar reported that witnesses attributed the panic to sudden rain and overcrowding. The report also said allegations had emerged that a false announcement by puja organisers intensified the panic.
The Kolkata Police has formed a special investigation team to examine that incident, and six people have been arrested, according to the report. Since then, the administration has increased monitoring at popular pandals in Kolkata and adjoining areas and added crowd-control arrangements.
Immersion processions create a separate operational challenge because crowds move between neighbourhoods and designated immersion points over several days. Police supervision must therefore extend beyond individual pandals to traffic routes, procession timing, access points and coordination across police jurisdictions. The state’s decision to deploy IPS officers across four urban areas indicates that the administration is treating the immersion period as a coordinated public-safety operation rather than as a series of isolated local events.
The police notice identifies the officers and the dates of their assignments. Further operational details, including the specific immersion routes, crowd-control measures and arrangements at individual immersion points, were not provided in the supplied report.
