Police bank on CCTV cams, drones to prevent crowding at Kolkata pandals

KOLKATA: The city police have begun to identify spots that will need CCTV surveillance to ensure there is no crowding due to the pandemic. The thrust this year is on physical distancing more than security.
Kolkata Police — alarmed by the people out on streets for shopping without a care for social distancing — will be using as many as 750 CCTV cameras, many of which will be temporarily fixed in and around 129 major pandals of the city — as they are trying to ensure that people remain safe during the pandemic season. The cops have also trained more personnel to use drones and have connected all their live feeds directly to the Lalbazar control room.
The cops alone are not the only ones who are worried. At least two major Puja organizers — Deshapriya Park in the south and Santosh Mitra Square in central Kolkata — have decided to temporarily shut down pandals if there is overcrowding.
The police will try to ensure that important crossings like Rashbehari and Hatibagan are not crowded. They are also worried about the pandals — especially those in north Kolkata — which have narrow roads. “We shall use as much technology possible to enforce discipline. But nothing would be possible without public support,” said a divisional DCP.
Every major pandal will have CCTV cameras at the entry and exit. “If there is 8-10 feet of entrance, we shall channel the crowd in two or three lanes. There will be thermal guns and not more than 25 people will be allowed inside,” said Saswata Basu from Forum for Durgotsav. But police said that the challenge will be to ensure that those waiting to enter the pandals do not crowd the entrance.
“We have often found that people are not wearing the mask properly. Many wear it around their necks or merely cover their faces with handkerchiefs when they notice cops around. They forget that the mask is a protection against a virus that is killing people across the globe,” said a senior divisional officer.
“We shall conduct a campaign — MaskUp — on the Puja theme to make people aware so that they remember at all times to wear a mask or keep their face adequately covered to contain the spread of infection,” commissioner Anuj Sharma told TOI.