Durga Puja: Bengal govt to open control room for monitoring weather, law and order situation

Kolkata, Sep 25 (IANS) The West Bengal government will open a control room at the state secretariat (Nabanna), which will monitor weather and law and order situation in Kolkata during Durga Puja

The control room will help take quick action in case of natural disasters or deterioration of law and order during the festival.

The decision to open the control room was taken after the city was paralysed for over a day following record overnight rain, which inundated almost all of Kolkata, leaving 10 people dead due to electrocution.

During the Durga Puja, when government institutions will be closed, the Disaster Management Department will remain active and work 24X7.

An official from the department said, "Whenever an incident occurs, the government and the administration are held accountable. But the state government's Disaster Management Department has already made preparations. We will work round the clock to ensure people are not inconvenienced in any way and combat any situation that arises during that time."

According to him, the control room will remain active until Chhath Puja (October 25 to 28). An officer of the rank of secretary and two officers of the monitoring team will be present at the control room during this time. There will also be multiple officers under their control. The work will be divided into two shifts every day. The main task of the staff present will be to keep an eye on the weather and other events.

This monitoring team will report directly to the principal secretary of the department. The information from the Secretary of the department will go to the state chief secretary and the concerned Municipal Corporations and Kolkata Police.

A month's worth of rain in just five hours on Tuesday, combined with a high tide in Hooghly during the heaviest rainfall period, resulted in widespread waterlogging across the city. About 10 people were electrocuted in West Bengal, including eight in Kolkata.

Train services and metro services were disrupted, while traffic in Kolkata was completely paralysed as almost every road was waterlogged.

--IANS

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