Calcutta, Sept. 30 (Agencies): The police on Saturday allowed people to resume viewing the Santosh Mitra Square Durga Puja, where the gold-clad idol and London-themed pandal had become a huge crowd-puller, after stopping entry a little after Friday midnight when smoke was allegedly seen in a chandelier.
Thousands had been visiting the pandal to see the idol of Goddess Durga clad in a 22kg gold sari, reportedly costing Rs 6.5 crore. The pandal ground sports replicas of London’s Big Ben, London Eye and Buckingham Palace.
According to a senior police officer, smoke was seen near a chandelier an hour after midnight, following which the public viewing of the idol was stopped.
Civil and electrical engineers of the public works department inspected the pandal in the afternoon and declared the pandal fit for public viewing, about 14 hours after it was closed.
”We have tested the electrical wires and provided some added protective tapes to cover them. We do not think there will be any problem with the electrical circuit. There is also no problem in the structure of the pandal and it is absolutely fit for the public to visit,” PWD engineers said after inspecting the pandal.
After the police stopped crowds from visiting the pandal, the organizers had claimed there was no smoke or fire, and alleged that the police had “conspired” to stop public viewing as they had failed to control the huge rush.
“This is absolute nonsense. There was no smoke,” Pradip Ghosh, president of the Santosh Mitra Square Puja committee, had said.
He said the police have been non-cooperative throughout the Puja, and had failed to control the crowds.
“I know they are doing this on the instructions of some influential people who are jealous because our puja has been pulling more crowd than their's,” he said. The Muchipara police station, which is in charge of the area, had been gheraoed by committee members in the morning.
Later, Ghosh said he was happy that the pandal had been reopened to the public.
”We are happy that the administration has revoked their decision and reopened our puja for general public. But whatever happened is unexpected,” Ghosh told PTI.
In 2015 the police had stopped Durga Puja viewing in Deshapriya Park following a near-stampede as crowds thronged to see what was billed as the tallest Durga idol ever, at 88 feet.
(This report was updated at 6pm.)
