PLEASE TALK TO US AT 8 P.M. EVERY SATURDAY, STARTING FROM 4TH SEPTEMBER, 2010 AT DD-BANGLA.

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The azure sky and the golden glow of the sun, the verdant fields and music in the air gently remind of the advent of the greatest festivity of our city – Durgotsav. To us they are clarion calls to duty. But we love to do that with smiling face just to make your festivity unspoiled.

 In fact, Durga Puja involves arguably one of the biggest arrangements in the world in terms of keeping watch on subscription collection (which sometimes tends to border on extortion), coordination and repeated intervention with public utility agencies, inspection of roads, interaction with puja committees, putting up barricades, erecting watch towers, massive and random checks at guest houses and hotels, rounding up of criminals before the puja and meticulously implementing them during the puja with plan ‘B’ ready, in case, plan ‘A’ fails.

 Meticulous implementation of a plan is tougher than making a plan. Particularly, managing a crowd which swells easily to a few lakhs at any given point of time or managing the mammoth vehicular traffic poses the toughest challenge to any police force. But diligence of my officers and personnel make the tough job look easy. Our job which begins long before the puja continues till Dadasi, the last day of immersion. Supervision of immersion ghats, river patrolling and deployment of divers of our disaster management group equipped with modern masks and other equipments is also part of our preparation for the puja.

 But nothing would have been possible without the amazing cooperation that we receive from the fellow citizens and puja committees. In most of these cases puja committees comply with the guidelines we formulate for them. There is a growing awareness among puja organizers in complying with the guidelines for smoother and safer festivity.

 Just to remind Calcutta High Court order once more, there must be a 4 feet clear open space on all sides of the pandal. The super-structure of the pandal can be no more than 40 ft. Separate entrance and exit gates are must for fire or other exigency. The gates must be of at least 12 ft. by 14 ft for free access to fire engines. No open flame and no cooking arrangements within 200 yards of the main pandal are allowed. In addition, adequate quantity of water, sand-filled buckets and fire extinguishers are to be placed. We request all puja organizers to co-operate with us actively in this manner.

 We, a force of 25,000 police personnel, are relentless in our efforts to make sure your festival becomes most safe and joyous. But I must acknowledge the equally relentless citizens who act as our ears and eyes almost everywhere. They inform us if they find anything suspicious. They keep us posted on every development in every locality. We get to know about abandoned suitcase or abandoned car in lightning speed. With citizenry as our extension, Kolkata Police is now truly all pervasive.

 Policing is a 24X7 job. It is more so during the festivity that almost sap our energy. But we regain it immediately after receiving a note thanking us for our job well done.

Wish everyone a warm, happy joyous and safe festival.