No Visitors Allowed in Bengal Durga Pujo Pandals: Calcutta HC

Only organisers can enter pujo pandals in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court said.

Representative Image. 

(Photo: PTI)

In what may dampen the spirits of pandal hoppers in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court on Monday, 19 October, declared all Durga Pujo pandals in the state as no-entry zones, reported ANI.

Further, the court said that only organisers can enter the pandals, while adding that the names of people allowed to enter the pandals will be displayed outside it.

A maximum of 25 people can be allowed inside a pandal and this number cannot change. Additionally, the court asked all small pujo committees to set up barricades at a distance 5 metres in case of small pandals and 10 metres for bigger pandals.

The high court’s order comes more than three weeks after the state government allowed visitors inside pandals, but made masks and sanitisers compulsory. In that order the state government had banned cultural programmes and fairs, while making it compulsory to have separate entry and exit points to the pandal.