On the 19th of October, the Calcutta High Court (HC) declared all Durga Puja pandals as. no entry zone in West Bengal.
The High Court bench was reviewing the petition against the organisation of Durga Puja amid the Novel Coronavirus or COVID-19.
The High Court bench said only organizers would be allowed to enter the pandals.
To justify this, the committee needs to put the names of the people who are allowed to enter the pandals in the State.
The Calcutta High Court division bench of Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Arijit Banerjee reviewed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking hold on Durga Puja celebrations.
The bench said, 15 to 25 organisers of the committee would be allowed to enter the pandals.
Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, the advocate appearing for the petitioner said, “The Calcutta High Court said that in case of small Durga Puja pandals five metres and for large puja pandals ten metres should be declared a no-entry zone. The distance will have to be measured from the place where the boundary of Durga Puja pandal ends.”
Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, advocate appearing for the petitioner, said.
Also read: Kolkata caught between festivities and fear of COVID-19
The Court also directed that the names of Durga Puja organizers allowed inside puja pandal will be displayed outside the pandal, and cannot be changed every day.
The order assumes huge significance as there are about 37,000 Durga Pujas organised across the State despite warnings issued by doctors that crowding during the Durga Puja can worsen COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the past few days, the State is also recording a new spike in COVID-19 cases every day and more than 60 deaths. This is a matter of concern, especially when festive season is round the corner. Hence, precautions like no entry zone for people, less crowd at pandals would be some major rileif in controlling the spread of the virus.
Durga Puja celebrations is scheduled to begin from the 21st of October to the 26th of October.
Stay tuned for further updates.
