Sasthi starts: Pandal-hoppers take protests, drizzle in stride
Times of India | 14 October 2024
Kolkata: Revellers keen on pandal-hopping braved showers in New Town, Salt Lake and areas adjoining Bypass and demonstrations in pockets of central and south Kolkata on Wednesday to visit pujas across the city. All areas with pandal clusters — Gariahat-Deshapriya Park alignment, Bhowanipore, Chetla-New Alipore, Behala, Haridevpur, Ahiritola, Hatibagan, Salt Lake and Dum Dum Park — saw high turnout through the day.
Saswata Bose of Hatibagan Sarbojanin said the turnout was at least 15%-20% higher than last year’s. “There has been a continuous stream of visitors since Dwitiya. It hit a new high on Wednesday evening when offices shut for the festival,” said Bose.
Partho Ghosh of Shib Mandir in south Kolkata said that while the crowd build-up usually starts in the evening — between 7 pm and 2 am — the period of high turnout has stretched from 4 pm to 4 am.
Metro proved to be the lifeline for pandal-hoppers, ferrying a record number of passengers till late in the night. Several stations, including Dum Dum, Sovabazar, Kalighat, Tollygunge and Garia, saw extremely high footfall as they lead to many puja clusters. Riders found it challenging getting off or boarding trains at other stations too.
Metro officials said the passenger overload made it difficult for the doors to shut properly, leading to delays at each station. Also, the over-crowding made the AC less effective. Ipsita Das, who boarded the metro from Tollygunge with her four-year-old son, said, “The metro halted at Shovabazar but the doors wouldn’t close. My son was screaming ‘I’m feeling uncomfortable’. It was terrible.”
The situation could have become more complicated had junior doctors gone ahead with the programme to visit popular pandals across the city to make visitors aware of their demands. However, cops intervened at Chandi Chowk. Though the face-off with cops led to a logjam at Esplanade, the rest of the city was spared.
Police duty was tweaked in several pandal zones. The stand down orders or the dispersal on Shasthi, which usually happens around 1 am-1.30 am was pushed to 2.30 am-3.30 am at high-footfall spots, like Tala, Lebubagan and Chetla. The force has also been asked to report at 2 pm instead of 4 pm from Saptami.