Facing intermittent rain, hordes of people were seen gathering in large Durga puja pandals in the city on Monday morning with little to no respect for social distancing rules.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced last week that revelers can pandal jump from ‘Tritiya’, three days before the rituals begin, to avoid crowding in the last four days of the annual show.
In some of the popular tents in the city, such as Ekdalia Evergreen, Singhi Park, Sribhumi Sporting and Badamtala Asar Sangha, people were not allowed to enter without masks.
Crowd management, however, remained a challenge as swarms of revelers gathered outside the pandals, despite repeated warnings from the puja committees.
At Sribhumi Sporting, in the northern part of the city, many were seen huddling in different corners to click on photographs of the deity, adorned with gold jewelry.
Subham Das, a pandal jumper from Dumdum, said outside the Sribhumi pandal: “This pujo is a must see for me, Covid or not Covid. What’s the point if I can’t stay behind a bit after coming from my home, which is about 8 km away? “Partha Ghosh, an official from Shivmandir Durga Puja in southern Kolkata, said that volunteers at the exit and entry points make sure that people do not remove their masks or push each other.
Thousands of people also packed the city’s shopping malls for last-minute purchases.
Rita Debnath, when asked why she did not cover her nose, responded by saying that it was difficult for her to breathe with the mask on.
“Why only me, there are many others who are not following the protocols. This is the only time of year I shop for my children and grandchildren … I can’t break that tradition, said the woman, in her 60s, outside a store in Gariahat.
The Covid-19 death toll in West Bengal surpassed the 6,000 mark on Sunday with 64 more deaths, even as a record number of 3,983 new cases brought the tally to 3,21,036.
.
