Kolkata under unprecedented security cover for Kali Puja on Sunday

Kolkata, Nov 10 (IANS) Kolkata will be wrapped under an unprecedented security cover on Sunday on the occasion of the Kali Puja with equal measures for Monday also on the occasion of idol immersion, said officials here.

City police sources said that while a total of 5,000 police personnel will be deployed on the streets of Kolkata on Sunday, the number will be 1,000 more on Monday on the occasion of idol immersion.

Special security deployment will be made at the famous Kali Temples in the city on these two days. The huge police contingent will be active on the streets of the city and they will operate under the supervision of 21 officers in the deputy commissioner and 35 officers in the assistant commissioner ranks.

The police have formed local-level committees along with the association of different housing complexes and high-rise buildings to prevent using the roofs for banned firecrackers.

The city police, sources said, are especially cautious about the banned firecrackers. “Since November 2, several teams of the city police have been conducting marathon raids and search operations in different parts of the city to recover banned firecrackers. Several kilograms of these firecrackers have already been seized so far,” a city police official said.

Meanwhile, environmentalists have demanded that Chinese fire-lanterns which had become extremely popular during Kali Puja and Diwali during the last few years should be brought under regulations with immediate effect.

According to environmentalist and green-technologist S.M. Ghosh, polluting mid-air, sky lanterns are dangerous because naked fire is left out to float in the open sky. "Large number of such lanterns may crash with each other in the sky if the wind velocity is over 20 km per hour. Or they can strike a high-rise building, a communication tower or even a low-flying aircraft," he said.

He also warned that in such events where large numbers of sky lanterns are released, fire service department permission should be mandatory for safety aspects.