Pandal with tallest Durga idol closed

The Kolkata police on Monday permanently shut down Deshapriya Park Puja which had attracted unprecedentedly huge crowds on Sunday evening eager to see the “worlds’s biggest idol of Goddess Durga” and initiated a suo moto case against its organisers for violation of rules.

On Monday morning, the city police filed the case at the Lake police station under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code against the puja committee members accusing them of flouting norms and disregarding guidelines of the Calcutta high court. The charge is bailable.

The move came after the top brass of the Kolkata police took suo moto cognisance of the near-stampede situation at the venue which left many puja revellers injured on Sunday evening. While the permissible height of a Puja mandap has been set at 40 ft, the giant structure of the Deshapriya Park puja pandal is estimated to be around 88 ft.

In the evening, Kolkata police commissioner Surajit Kar Purkayastha said at a press at Lalbazar, the city police headquarters, “The Deshapriya Park Durga Puja has been closed. It will remain closed for public viewing this year. There is no confusion in it. Our priority is to ensure the safety and security of the common people.”

Insisting that permission was not given by the police to the puja committee, he said legal action would be taken for violations of guidelines. The police commissioner informed that the pandal structure had been covered with the “view cutter.”

Asked if any senior police officer visited the pandal for routine inspection before inauguration, Mr Purkayastha claimed that neither the joint commissioner of police (headquarters) nor he had inspected it. He said, “We always expect the puja organisers to be responsible for what they do.”

It is not about chasing a criminal. Rather it is a civil event focussing on the festivities.”

Mr Purkayastha’s claim that the giant structure came to the notice of the police much later sounded unconvincing because the organisers had launched a massive advertisement campaign centring on its gigantic size.

Lalbazar sources indicated that the officers from the Lake police station upto the rank of deputy commissioner police (DCP) of the southeast division had visited the puja venue and communicated their concerns to the organisers about the pandal’s size a month ago.

“Many puja organisers comply with our advisories. In this case too we had expected them to do so since the Lake police had initially objected to the size of the idol and was unwilling to give the clearance. While the organisers preferred to move ahead with their plans, the report of objection was not forwarded to the divisional DCP who in turn could not intimate his superior officers at Lalbazar about the development,” a senior IPS officer disclosed.

Deshapriya Park puja organisers, however, claimed that they had all the necessary permission. Sudipta Kumar, secretary of the puja committee, however, did not oppose the police’s closure decision. “If so many people are crowding our puja pandal then what can we do I think there will be no issue if the pandal hoppers do not get the opportunity to viewing a single puja. Security of the citizens cannot be compromised with,” he added. When questioned about the suo motu FIR initiated by the police against them, he claimed ignorance.