Police are approaching big-ticket puja organisers to enquire about their themes to assess their crowd-pulling potential and the crowd management plans that need to be prepared.
The cops are reaching out to traditional crowd-pullers, asking for details on the pandals and the possible entry and exit points.
Among the pujas approached by the police is Santosh Mitra Square Durga Puja in central Calcutta, which had built a replica of the Ram temple in Ayodhya last year. The 2023 puja was inaugurated by Union home minister Amit Shah.
The key organiser of the Santosh Mitra Square puja is BJP leader Sajal Ghosh, who said he was ready to cooperate with the police.
"The puja at Santosh Mitra Square has been attracting crowds for decades. If the police can manage 10 lakh people in a small place for the July 21 event, why can't it manage the crowd at a Durga puja?" Ghosh asked.
"We are ready to cooperate with the police but how can cops decide how many CCTVs we must install?"
This year's pandal at Santosh Mitra Square is themed "on the Sphere of Las Vegas with special effects using lights". The Sphere is a music and entertainment arena in Paradise, Nevada, east of the Las Vegas Strip.
The pandal will be in the shape of a hemisphere and the preliminary work has begun, an organiser said, politely refusing to go into the details.
The organisers have been told not to plan any laser or light and sound show because a similar show for a few minutes at the puja in 2022 had resulted in a "stampede-like situation".
In 2023, such was the rush to see the Ram temple replica that the police had to impose new restrictions in the middle of the festival.
"Keeping in view the massive crowd circulation, various factors are to be considered in public interest — the safety/security of the people visiting the pandal being of paramount importance," the officer in charge of Muchipara police station said in a letter to the Santosh Mitra Square Sarbojanin Durgotsav committee.
The July 18 letter said the "theme of this year's puja should be shared in advance for better planning". No Ferris wheel will be allowed at the park because "it is a hazard from the safety and security point of view", the letter said.
On July 23, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had instructed the city police chief and senior officers in the state police to find out details of the proposed themes from big organisers for better coordination and crowd management.
Addressing Puja organisers at Netaji Indoor Stadium, she said the organisers may be reluctant to share the details but the administration should have a fair idea of what their plans are.
Senior police officers said getting a fair idea of the proposed themes would help them decide on the deployment of personnel for the festival.
"We deploy our entire force during the Puja. If there is an accident, it would be difficult to arrange additional forces from another place," said a senior officer.
