Kolkata, Nov 2 (IANS) Taking lessons from the tragic incident at the Chorebagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal, where 19 visitors lost their lives in a stampede, the state administration has taken “steps” to avoid such accidents in future and ensure safety during the upcoming Kali Puja.
A detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been jointly released by the State Home Department and Kolkata Police in this regard, said an official on Monday.
To maintain safety during the upcoming festive season, a set of strict rules has been made mandatory for every puja committee.
As per the SOP, entry and exit routes to the mandap should be completely separate. Appropriate signboards or signals should be provided so that these routes are visible to visitors from a distance.
Arrangements should be made to enter and exit the mandap in an orderly manner, without allowing large numbers of people to enter. If a dangerous situation arises due to excessive crowd pressure, entry of new visitors to the mandap should be stopped immediately.
At the same time, it has been clearly instructed that the mandap or its surrounding area cannot be kept dark in any way. In addition, the puja committees will have to keep alternative backup or alternative lighting systems ready to handle power outages.
In order to quickly evacuate visitors to a safe place in case of an emergency, the emergency gate or emergency path must always be kept completely free of obstacles. No keys or locks can be used to create obstacles there.
To prevent any rumours or panic from being created in the crowd, announcements must be made on the loudspeaker in a very calm, clear and specific language.
In addition, each puja committee has been instructed to appoint an ‘incident coordinator’ to handle emergencies.
To ensure security, plainclothes police will be deployed in the mandap premises. Not only that, Kolkata Police will monitor the overall situation through CCTV cameras and aerial drones to increase surveillance.
An important coordination meeting is going to be held by Kolkata Police with representatives of all the puja committees to review how these guidelines will be implemented and the overall preparations.
–IANS
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