Kolkata: With barely a month left for Bengal’s biggest festival, Kolkata Police is busy finishing its homework. Preliminary inputs gathered by Lalbazar thus far show that there will be new challenges during Durga puja this year, most importantly in and around pujas that will be held either for the first time like at Park Street’s Allen Park or on a grander scale like a puja at New Market and another at Triangular Park.Allen Park—traditionally famous for its Christmas celebrations—is set to become a premier attraction this Durga Puja, hosting grand musical performances by star artists, including Shankar Mahadevan, Kailash Kher and a prominent surprise performer whose identity remains undisclosed.To accommodate the massive crowds expected during the festive evenings, Kolkata Traffic Police is preparing to implement major vehicular diversions along Camac Street. According to police sources, the authorities plan to close the stretch of Camac Street between its intersections with Park Street and Middleton Street to ensure safety and allow revellers to enjoy the cultural programmes without disruption.To maintain traffic flow around the park premises, motorists will be redirected through alternative routes. Vehicles travelling through the area will be asked to take either Little Russell Street, Russell Street or Ho Chi Minh Sarani. Additionally, traffic officials will convert Middleton Row into a two-way street during the closure periods to facilitate smooth movement for local commuters.Traffic guards will be deployed along key intersections in the Park Street region to manage vehicular flow and prevent congestion throughout the festival evenings. Cops confirmed that Park Street will not be shut at any cost to ensure east-central movement.The police said they are also likely to shut some smaller roads around Free School Street to allow revellers undisrupted access to another puja set to become big in the New Market area. Similarly, pressure on the already saturated RB Avenue is set to increase with another small para puja deciding to go big this year.“Every year, we try to work out on a circulation plan whereby we create loops. This allows us the space to control large crowds by spreading them across a large park (Deshapriya park) or road (Suruchi Sangha). But we cannot be using the barricades as that is a challenge to physical distancing. Instead, we are creating new holding areas – say at a distance of every 100-150 metres whereby we will stop them from moving forward towards the pandal. Even if this means that the queue stretches a long way, this will ensure there is no crowding one on top of the other. We will count people as they keep moving from one holding area to another,” said an officer.Faster circulation of pedestrians at important crossings during peak festival hours is another major plan on the drawing board. “We might need to control vehicles a bit longer than usual to allow more frequent pedestrian crossovers. While several organizers will be not allowing entry up to the pandals, cops plan to be out on the roads from Trithiya itself – present from the morning itself as it is aware that several visitors will be desperate to avoid crowding. In addition, guard rails will be kept outside the pandals, the objective being that pandals will be temporarily shut if required to control crowd surge.”·
