Cuttack, Oct. 5: The fire service department has come up with a special advisory for the Puja organisers this year to curb possibilities of fire incidents in pandals in the twin cities. It has also formed three special squads to keep itself ready in the face of any mishap during the festivities.

A15-member squad has started a physical safety assessment in all the pandals of Cuttack from today. On the first day of inspection, it conducted fire safety checks in more than 55 pandals.

After completion of the rounds of inspection in the next couple of days, the team will approach the district administration and police for necessary action against the violators.

"We are asking Puja organisers to use fire retardant cloth and keep two 9-litre fire extinguishers and three sand and water buckets handy at each pandal in Cuttack," said fire officer (central range) B.B. Das.

Another source in the fire service department has said that pandals would not be allowed to use combustible materials, such as straw and thermocol. The Puja organisers will also have to ensure that the structures are not erected beneath any live electric wire.

The Puja organisers have also been instructed to keep extra exit routes in the pandals with a minimum width of 2.5 metres and height not exceeding 3 metres.

"Kitchens should be more than 500 metres away from the pandals and adequate space should be kept for easy passage of a fire engine in case of any emergency," Das added.

An official in the department said that the fire mishaps occurred mostly due to fluctuation in power supply and short-circuits caused by improper wirings near the pandals.

A.K. Bisoyi, assistant manager of Central Electricity Utility Supply (Cesu), division-II, told The Telegraph that 1,000KW of power is supplied to all the puja pandals during Durga puja in the city every day.

"The pandals have been instructed to take temporary power connections through their local sub-stations. Besides, the wiring should have proper earthing and no live wire should pass through the main electric source to the pandals," said Bisoyi.

He said that the total power consumption would be less this year than previous years as most of the pandals had switched to LED-based lighting to decorate the pandals.

"We are the first pandal in Cuttack to switch to fully LED-based lighting. We are spending nearly Rs 40,000 for using energy-efficient lights," said Khannagar Puja Committee secretary Prafulla Sahoo.