Durga Puja organisers make face masks mandatory inside pandals
KOLKATA: The Durga Puja committees across the city have made it compulsory for visitors to wear masks inside the pandal considering the spate in Covid cases in the state.
With Durga Puja only a couple of months away, the senior organisers are busy putting their heads together to decide themes and ways to make their Puja count as one of the best in the city.
The spirits are especially high considering Durga Puja was given the Intangible Cultural Heritage tag by UNESCO last year.
The need to have proper Covid protocol in place has hardly slipped the minds of the organisers.
“We cannot control what people do outside on the road but as long as they are inside the pandal, they will have to wear a face mask,” general secretary of Jodhpur Park Durga Puja Sumanta Roy said.
Suruchi Sangha and Jodhpur Park Durga Puja will ensure to provide enough open space for the comfort of the pandal-hoppers like every year.
A senior organiser at Suruchi Sangha said the practice of sanitisation and providing masks to visitors will continue this year as well. The visitors here will also be asked to comply with the existing
Covid norms.
The Bhowanipur Durgaotsav Samiti has taken a step further by promoting booster dose awareness amongst people. They will be holding various other events, including painting, among other activities in the month of August and through these events they plan to spread awareness. They will also be ensuring that the committee members have taken the booster dose.
“We are ensuring that committee members and volunteers take booster doses. We are also trying to spread the word in our locality,” Subhankar Roy Chowdhury, a senior organiser, added.