Siliguri, 21st September: As the Durga Puja festival season is just around the corner, Siliguri Metropolitan Police held a meeting today at Shivam Palace on Burdwan Road with the Puja Committee and officials of various departments. Through the meeting, the puja committees were informed in detail regarding the guidelines for organizing the puja this year.
Addressing the gathering, Siliguri Headquarters DCP Amitabha Maiti maintained that like the previous year, various norms have been laid out for the puja committees to follow this year too. As per the guidelines:
- Entry inside the Puja pandal without a mask will be banned.
- Puja pandal should not be enclosed
- Puja Committee will be responsible for maintaining social distancing during the puja
- Ban on firecrackers
- CCTV cameras must be installed in every pandal
- The roads must be kept away from any congestion
- Idol immersion will take place from October 15th to 17th.
- A maximum of 15 people will be allowed for idol immersion rituals
- 18 Police Assistant Booths will be set up amid the puja for security reasons
- A committee of police, headed by DCP Head Quarter, will be formed
- Puja Committees will be able to apply for permission through an app launched by Siliguri Police.
- Permission can also be taken offline through a single-window system from September 22nd – October 04th at the Metropolitan Maidan
- A 24-hour police control room and a temporary police control room will be set up at Airview More
- A close watch will be kept on drunkards, miscreants, and offenders at various puja pandals
- Ban on organizing fairs and cultural programmes in the puja pandal
- Puja Pandals have been encouraged to promote the ‘Safe Drive, Save Life’ campaign
Traffic System amid Durga Puja:
Traffic DCP Abhishek Gupta informed that special attention will be kept on the traffic during the festival. Traffic will be diverted from the fifth day (Panchami) of Durga Puja.
- Movement of buses, trucks or other vehicles banned inside the city from 4 pm to 2 am on October 10th and 11th
- From October 12th to 16th, there will be a ban on the movement of vehicles inside the city from 4 pm to 4 am
- Buses travelling to Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Assam will operate from Naukaghat during the Puja
- While buses travelling to Kolkata and Bihar will run from Parivahan Nagar Matigara, Siliguri
- Vehicles travelling to the Hills will run through the Eastern Bypass