Cops tighten watch on Salt Lake parking, pandal exits in Kol
Times of India | 14 September 2025. While the top brass of Bidhannagar Police, led by commissioner Mukesh Kumar, inspected some of the biggest pandals in Salt Lake, ACs and OCs in Kolkata held meetings with organisers to finalise the exit plans from some top-draw pandals in Kolkata.
Several popular puja organisers like AK Block have asked for police help to solve the parking issue at the pandals in Salt Lake. They requested the BMC to turn some vacant plots into parking lots during Durga Puja. Sources said the Bidhannagar top brass gave "an on-principle nod on a case-to-case basis" though the modalities will need to be discussed. At Dum Dum Park, CP Mukesh insisted on enough space for entrance and exits so that queues can be handled.
Organisers under KP jurisdiction said the thrust was on managing the exits at puja clusters, the places that host multiple big-budget pujas within a small, confined area. One of them was Behala.
Sandipan Bandhopadhyay, one of the chief organisers of the Behala Natun Dal puja, said: "We have already changed the direction. We now have two entrances - one from Behala 14 Number Bus Stand and another from Behala Tram Depot.
We have also proposed a crowd circulation plan whereby we will team up with the organisers of Behala Friends and ensure only one-way flow towards the pandal."
A similar arrangement has been agreed to by the two biggest organisers of Haridevpur - Ajeyo Sanghati and 41 Pally. "Pandal hoppers will come first to 41 Pally, use the exit road and reach Vivekananda Park puja, and then move on to Ajeyo Sanghati. This will help us to keep the crowd flowing one way during the peak hours," said an organiser of 41 Pally.
Cops are also finalising their strategy on crowd-prevention measures, outside the pandals and at metro stations and bus stops. They are also working on ways to prevent crowding at Rashbehari and Hatibagan, where several big-draw pujas are situated.
