A report on Mahalaya tarpan arrangements across Kolkata and several districts describes heavy crowds, police deployment, waterway surveillance and traffic controls at river ghats, but its timing remains unclear because the supplied material refers to Mahalaya 2023 while carrying a publication date of October 10, 2026.
According to Bartaman Patrika – Kolkata, thousands of people gathered before dawn at Kolkata ghats including Babughat, Judges Ghat and Baghbazar Mayer Ghat to perform tarpan, a ritual in which water and sesame are offered in memory of deceased ancestors. The report attributes the security arrangements to the administration and says they were intended to prevent accidents during the riverbank gatherings.
The article also states that surveillance was conducted on the water and that traffic movement was regulated on roads near the ghats. It does not identify the specific police units, civic agencies, deployment strength, crowd-control plan or emergency-response arrangements involved. Those operational details would be necessary to assess the scale and effectiveness of the measures.
The report describes similarly heavy attendance at bathing ghats in Nabadwip, including visitors from outside Nadia district. It says bathing and tarpan activities were conducted under police security. In Burdwan, tarpan was reported at Sadar Ghat, where the district magistrate, identified as Shweta Agarwal, was said to have visited in the early morning to review arrangements.
Other locations mentioned include the Bhagirathi riverbank in Berhampore and Mission Ghat on the Mahananda in Malda. The account says security arrangements were in place at both locations and that the rituals proceeded without disruption. It does not report any casualty, rescue operation or major incident at the sites covered.
The report places the gatherings within the wider start of Bengal’s Durga Puja season. It notes that Mahalaya is associated with the end of Pitru Paksha and the beginning of Devi Paksha, while also marking rituals such as the ceremonial opening of the eyes of Durga idols in artisan households. Some idols are also taken from Kumartuli to puja venues around this time, according to the report.
For city administrations, such occasions combine concentrated pedestrian movement, access to river water, road congestion and demand for emergency oversight. The supplied account confirms that authorities used security personnel, waterway monitoring and traffic restrictions, but it does not establish how many people attended, how long the controls remained in force or whether any formal crowd-management protocol was followed.
The date requires clarification before the report can be treated as a current account. The article was published on October 10, 2026, but its original title includes the year 2023, and the supplied text does not explain whether it is a contemporaneous report, an archival story or a republished item. Confirmation of the event date, the responsible authorities and the reported arrangements is therefore required.
