IN A cruel twist of fate, pandal-hopping at the Chorbagan Durga Puja in Kolkata on a festive Saptami evening gave way to grief for a lifetime for many, who lost their loved ones in a tragic stampede that killed 19 people. Twenty-five others were injured in the stampede at the pandal in North Kolkata, following a crowd surge amid rain on Saturday evening. Of the dead, 13 were women and two minors. A rickshaw-puller, crying inconsolably, said he was at work on the fateful evening when he got the news of his daughter being fatally injured, and rushed to the Kolkata Medical College and Hospital with his wife. “Durga Puja will never come in our lives again; we have lost our Durga,” said the distraught father of 17-year-old Barnali Halder.

 

“Every year during Durga Puja, my daughter will come alive in my heart,” he said. Barnali, a student of Class-11, had gone pandal-hopping with six of her friends, he said. “My daughter and another girl could not make it, while the others in the group managed to escape”. The resident of Gauranganagar in New Town said those in charge of crowd management should have been more active when the number of visitors swelled, maintaining that it was difficult for people to find their way out of the dimly-lit pandal during the rush. Saurav Mondal, who stays in Kumartuli, lost his mother Mithu Mondal in the tragedy. “In the melee, my mother and I fell down. At one point, I felt I would not be able to come out alive as several people had fallen atop us,” he said.

 

Saurav said a police officer managed to pull him out. “My mother died on the spot,” he said, lamenting that there were “very few” police personnel and volunteers inside the pandal. A woman from Bihar’s Muzaffarpur lost her husband in the stampede, family members said. “They arrived in Kolkata on Saturday morning to be a part of the Durga Puja festivities in the city for the first time, but little did they know that this would turn out to be their last,” said a family member. at whose home the couple had lunch before visiting the Chorbagan pandal. The Chorbagan Durga Puja, popular among revellers for its theme-based pandals, is situated off the arterial Chittaranjan Avenue in north Kolkata and lies in the vicinity of several other well-known community pujas.

 

LACK of crowd management and misleading announcements following a sudden downpour during Saptami celebrations may have triggered panic among visitors, leading to a stampede at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in North Kolkata, a senior police officer said on Sunday. Circumstantial evidence, along with accounts from locals and eyewitnesses, suggests that inadequate crowd control contributed to the incident at the pandal on Saturday evening, he said. Police also found that the number of police personnel and private security guards deployed at the venue was inadequate, worsening the situation. “We have gathered sufficient evidence pointing to gross mismanagement by the puja organisers.There was no clear plan to manage the large number of visitors, and everything was handled verbally.We have collected CCTV camera footage, recorded accounts from locals and eyewitnesses, and corroborated our findings.

 

Security personnel were inadequate,” the police officer told PTI. Locals also claimed that police deployment at the pandal was inadequate, alleging that personnel were mainly stationed near the VIP entrance. A team of forensic experts visited the pandal on Saturday night and collected evidence from the site, he said. “Another team of forensic experts will visit the pandal today to collect further evidence. Officers from our Detective Department will also visit the venue as part of the investigation,” he said. Kolkata Police is also planning to question survivors as part of the probe, the IPS officer said. “We need first-hand accounts to cross-check the findings based on statements from locals and other eyewitnesses. This will help our investigation,” he added. Meanwhile, Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Nand imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 on roads adjoining the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal in North Kolkata on Sunday morning. The order prohibits gatherings on roads surrounding the venue, which falls under the jurisdiction of Bowbazar Police Station.

 

The restrictions will remain in force until October 20. Nineteen people were killed and 25 others injured in a stampede at the pandal on Saturday evening, following a surge in the crowd amid rain. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced that the State Government would provide Rs 25 lakh in compensation and a Group D Government job to the family of each deceased victim. He also ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by a sitting Judge of the Calcutta High Court, to investigate the incident.