By Diksha-
With mere days left for the upcoming festivities of Durga Puja in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court today ruled that all the Pandals will be no-entry zones for visitors in the State and the pandals shall be barricaded to prevent gathering of large crowds amid Covid fear.
Only organizers shall be allowed in the pandals; with a limit of 25 people in big pandals and 15 in small ones. Further, names of all such people shall be put outside the pandal to ensure only their entry for any puja-related activities.
The Court observed that there are not enough police personnel in the state to prevent gathering of crowd in such a large number of pandals.
Explaining further, the Court said that 5 metres beyond the extremities of small pandals and 10 metres for the bigger pandals are to be barricaded and marked as no-entry zones.
The fear of Covid-19 has increased two-folds in the State now that festival season has started with people coming out in the streets to buy things for their households, without following the basic social-distancing norms and necessities such as wearing masks for self-preservation.
Various pandal comittees have even made arrangement virtual darshan for the devotees which is obviously a welcome step in these times.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had recently announced that people can start visiting the marquees from ‘Tritiya’ i.e. three days before the durga puja rituals begin, to avoid huge crowd gatherings.
