Kali Puja organisers will have to ensure no DJs perform in immersion processions, the Kolkata police commissioner told a meeting on Monday.
The immersion will have to be completed by November 15.
The organisers will have to ensure that green cracker norms are adhered to and silence zones are spared.
Monday’s meeting, presided over by police commissioner Vineet Kumar Goyal, was attended by representatives of Kali Puja committees covering all the nine Kolkata police divisions and senior officials from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), the fire and emergency services department, pollution control board and power utility CESC.
“The puja organisers were reminded about the ban on the use of DJs during immersion processions. The violators would be booked according to the provisions of law,” said a senior police officer who attended the meeting held in Alipore.
DJs featured in several Kali Puja immersion processions last year despite the ban.
Many Kolkatans, including senior citizens, had complained to the police about loud noise, police officers said.
“The divisional commissioners of police have been briefed about enforcing the ban on the use of DJs and the officers in charge of police stations have been tasked to remind the organisers about doing away with loudspeakers during processions,” the officer said.
During the meeting, the organisers were asked to adhere to the noise rule under the Environment Protection Act prohibiting the use of loudspeakers and public address systems within 100 metres of “silence zones” around hospitals.
Over 2,500 officially recorded Kali pujas are organised across the city. This time, it will be held on November 12, Sunday.
On Tuesday, some of the big-ticket organisers like the one on Ahmerst Street brought the idol to the pandal. Several of them have lined up an early inauguration like Durga Puja, on Friday.
Puja organisers passed the onus of adhering to cracker norms to the police.
“It is difficult for puja organisers to keep a watch on those bursting crackers. We can at best tell our members to stick to green crackers. But Kali puja, like ours, attracts thousands of outsiders. It is the job of the police to keep a watch,” said Susanta Chakraborty, joint secretary of the Amherst Street Sadharan Sri Sri Kali Puja Committee.
“Among several things, we have demanded additional police presence this year for better surveillance. There is a silence zone around Marwari Hospital, located in our area. The onus is on us but we need the help of more police.”
A section of senior officers said the thrust of abiding by the norms of silence zone around hospitals was because of complaints that were received last year from parts of Kankurgachhi, Phoolbagan, EM Bypass, College Street and DL Khan Road about banned firecrackers being burst.
Several puja organisers wanted to keep the idol a day more. But the police put their foot down.
“The Eden Gardens will be hosting a cricket match on November 16. The police said there can be no extension of the immersion deadline. That’s unfortunate because we had planned it on November 16,” said Amit Jaiswal of Fatakeshto Kali Puja in North Kolkata.