KOLKATA: After Calcutta High Court ordered that only those who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to enter the pandal to perform rituals, Durga Puja committee members became busy ensuring that all their members, retinue of service providers and the priests were vaccinated. They have started arranging for jabs for those who require the second dose.
Many organisers have also decided to inform the local residents who often offer anjali and perform sindur khela in pandals to ensure they are fully vaccinated and either carry their registered mobile phones to the pandal or their vaccination certificates.
According to the directive of the court, organizers will only allow 45 people at a time and 60 in all, including the priests and other service providers, in big pandals and 25 in all in smaller pandals.
The organizers of AC-AD Block Durga Puja in New Town have already started collecting the hard copies and soft copies of vaccination certificates of their members and support staff. “We will keep the copies with us that will be shown to the authorities. Some of the members have not yet received the second shot. We have requested them to get an RT-PCR test done a day before they come over for the rituals,” said Ashutosh Chakraborty, secretary of the committee.
In AK Block in Salt Lake, organizers have requested the committee members and local residents to carry their registered mobile phones with them while visiting the pandals. “We will have a dedicated smart device ready with the Co-Win app installed. If any resident forgets to carry the vaccination certificate, we will immediately download from the app using their numbers and show them to theauthorities,” said Raja Banik, executive member of the puja committee.
Behala Notun Dal have started collecting feedback on the vaccination status. “Almost everybody is fully vaccinated. We have requested everybody to keep a copy of the certificate handy. Those who are due for their second jab will get it done by this weekend,” said Sandipan Banerjee, convenor of Behala Notun Dal.
“If we find anybody among the support staff who has not received the second jab, we will ensure it is done by this weekend,” said Akash Das, who handles the social media accounts of Kumartuli Park Sarbojanin Durgotsab Committee.
Times View
Heeding court rulings and government regulations will help us minimise the chances of a post-festival spike of Covid cases. All of them must be implemented, in letter and spirit, and government agencies must look out for deviations from norms.
