Ranchi: Ranchi district administration on Sunday directed Durga Puja committees to ensure separate entry and exit routes, emergency exits and adequate crowd-management arrangements at pandals this year. The committees have also been asked to obtain structural, electrical and fire-safety certificates and install CCTV cameras covering pandals and approach routes as part of measures to prevent accidents and maintain law and order during the festival.“All puja committees and organisers have been directed to ensure strict compliance with the prescribed guidelines and extend necessary cooperation to the administration and police,” the district administration said in an official statement.The guidelines bar committees from constructing pandals near transformers, high-tension wires, railway lines, gas godowns and other potentially hazardous locations. The guidelines also prohibit inflammable and synthetic materials in pandal construction. Committees have been asked to follow the directions of engineers concerned and obtain a certificate regarding the structural safety of temporary pandals.For crowd management, separate entry and exit routes have to be provided for men and women, with sufficiently wide gates and special arrangements for women and children. An additional exit must be kept for emergencies, and access and cleanliness behind the pandals must also be maintained.“Fire extinguishers, water and dry-sand buckets and first-aid facilities are to be kept at pandals. Electrical wiring must have proper earthing, while committees have to obtain an approved electrical load and connection from Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd before undertaking illumination,” the official statement read.Use of loudspeakers between 10 pm and 6 am will remain prohibited, while high-volume sound amplifiers have also been restricted.Munchun Rai, convener of the Ranchi district Durga Puja committee, said, “Some pandals lag in following the guidelines, and this needs to be looked into. Managing crowds becomes somewhat difficult every year, but with the administration’s support, it is managed.”“We will also issue these directives to all Durga Puja committees and ask them to ensure that the guidelines are followed,” he said.Committees have also been directed to ensure that approach roads remain unobstructed, report suspicious or objectionable social media posts, and conduct immersion only on the designated date, time and route and at identified ghats.
