Pandal or roadblock? The high court has okayed a guideline that will make it obligatory for puja organisers to leave at least 50 ft on any two sides of the pandal

Calcutta High Court on Friday put its seal of approval on the guidelines framed by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) and Calcutta Police to rein in pandal raj.

The order was passed after police submitted a fresh set of guidelines suggesting that Durga puja organisers leave at least 50 ft on any two sides of the pandal and also not block the entrances or exits of any building in the locality.

?There should be channels for controlling crowd movement. No Puja pandal will be allowed within reasonable distance of any major intersection to facilitate smooth traffic movement,? the guidelines added.

Placing the to-do list before the court, state junior standing counsel Subrat Mukherjee and government panel lawyer Suman Ghosh informed the bench that the police would not allow any organiser to hold the puja unless it was granted permission by the CMC.

Apart from the proposals on erection of pandals, police have also come up with a list of guidelines on noise pollution and immersion of idols.

?Puja organisers should desist from damaging trees, digging up parks, roads, footpaths, damaging pedestrian barriers or median dividers.?

The CMC, in its fresh guidelines, clearly specified that this year it would not allow encroachment of the entire roads by Puja pandals. At least 20 ft of roadspace should be left on either side of the pandal for movement of traffic, especially fire engines.

After verifying both guidelines, the division bench of Justice V.S. Sirpurkar and Justice A.K. Ganguly ruled that Puja organisers would have to follow them.

A survey by Calcutta Police last year had revealed that more than 30 per cent of the 1,102 pandals in the city had completely blocked roads.

Tapan Kumar Mitra, a resident of Dover Lane, had moved a petition in January for a set of rules on erection of pandals on roads. The division bench had then asked the civic body and the police to formulate guidelines for a free and fair Puja.