West Bengal: Crowd curbs at Kalighat, Dakshineswar & Belur Math

KOLKATA: Dakshineswar Temple will remain open for 24 hours from 5am on Thursday to 5am on Friday as thousands of devotees are expected to turn up on the temple’s premises to offer their pujas to Ma Bhabatarini for Kali Puja. While restrictions on timings will not be there at Dakshineswar, restricted entry timings will be maintained at Kalighat and Belur Math.
The temple committee at Kalighat announced that 10 people will be allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum at a time, maintaining distancing. The temple has sought special assistance from the Kalighat police station to control crowd on Thursday.
“Ours is not a Kali Puja but traditionally we have the Mahalakshmi Puja on the night of Kali Puja. Last year the situation was grim but this year we are on a steadier footing. So, we will allow restricted numbers inside the garba griha,” said Kalyan Haldar, treasurer of the committee. Restricted temple timings from 6am to 1pm and then again from 4pm to 8pm will be maintained. “However, looking at the situation, we might extend the closing time by an hour,” Haldar added.
Dakshineswar Temple trustees have restricted movement into Panchavati gardens but have allowed people to bathe at the ghat. However, police arrangements have been made so that there is no crowding at the ghat and no one lingers there beyond a few minutes. “We have appealed to the devotees not to loiter into Panchavati and play pranks with fireworks there, which is a regular offence. Cops will help us with this,” said Kushal Chowdhury, trustee. Devotees will have to wear masks and sanitise their hands before they walk in. No flowers will be allowed inside but dry prasad can be offered.
The gates of Belur Math, the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, will remain open to devotees on Thursday since the puja will happen only at night. The restricted timings that are being followed now will be maintained. No one will be allowed to sit or lay prostrate to offer ‘pranaam’ and no touching of feet of the monks will be allowed. The puja will happen from 9:30 pm to 4:30 am following old traditions.