Devotees cared little for social distancing norms at Gangasagar Mela and at entry points to the fair as they arrived in large numbers to board vessels and buses to reach Sagar Island in South 24-Parganas on Thursday.

Though the South 24-Parganas district administration claimed to have made several arrangements to manage crowds and apprised Calcutta High Court of the same, in reality pilgrims outnumbered police personnel and civic volunteers who remained mute spectators as people moved from the district’s Kachuberia ghat to Kapil Muni temple in Sagar Island.

The lapse in the arrangement has drawn the attention of the Calcutta High court’s monitoring team members who made consecutive visits on the Mela venue on Wednesday evening and on Thursday afternoon, when they in categorical terms expressed their displeasure.

Sources in the administration said the overcrowding at entry points and allowing entry to pilgrims without RTPCR negative test reports were pointed out by team members, who also submitted a report to Calcutta High Court about the violation of safety protocols.

The high court team consisting of Justice (retired) Samapti Chatterjee and member-secretary of State Legal Services Authority Raju Mukhopadhyay held talks with members of the Mela organising committee, including officials of South 24-Parganas district administration, on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon.

Sources added that the HC team repeatedly cautioned the administration about the possible high turn out on the remaining two days of the fair – Friday and Saturday — on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.

“The high court committee reportedly was not happy about the way pilgrims were allowed entry without RTPCR test reports and gathering of people at several spots including Kapil Muni temple. The team members visited several places and pointed out the lapses in crowd management. But we assured them of overcoming the drawbacks,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

However, when asked, state sports and youth affairs minister Arup Biswas refuted reports of the high court team expressing “displeasure” with the situation at the Mela.

“There has been no violation of court order. We have been trying our best to execute the directives in practical terms and ensuring all possible safety norms to combat the spread of Covid,” Biswas said.

However, on ground zero the reality belied the claims of Biswas.

As hundreds of pilgrims stood in long queues and jostled to enter the Kapil Muni temple, there were no police personnel or civic volunteers to control the crowd or carry out random thermal checking of the devotees, many of whom were spotted without the mandatory mask.

Senior officials in the administration, however, termed it as a minor “drawback”.

“Minor drawbacks cannot be ruled out. We have arrangements in place and deployed a large number of personnel to ensure all protective measures,” the official said.

A doctor assigned duty in Gangasagar, however, expressed concern and feared such violation of Covid protocol could trigger a sharp rise in positive cases.

“Covid makes no compromise and what the administration is describing as a minor drawback can put us in a grave situation,” the doctor said.

However, state women and child development Sashi Panja and minister Biswas reiterated that there was no slackness in arrangement and the state government was trying its best to ensure safety of the pilgrims and those on duty at the Mela.

Biswas said since January 7, around 3.2 lakhs pilgrims had been medically screened at 13 entry points set up for those heading to the fair.

“So far we have identified 13 persons as Covid positive. Their RTPCR tests have also been done and subsequently they were sent to safe homes,” Biswas added.

“We are lucky that Covid positive persons had been intercepted at the entry points. So far, no Covid positive person has been found at Gangasagar Island, which shows how much care we have taken”, the minister added.