Faridabad Durga Puja Pandals Checked After Kolkata Stampede: Broad Gates Found

• by Akanksha Mishra
• 2026-10-18 15:52:00

The catastrophic stampede at a Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata—which claimed 17 lives and left over 30 devotees injured—has cast an urgent spotlight on public crowd management and emergency preparedness at major religious gatherings across India. Prompted by the disaster, a ground-level inspection was conducted across three marquee Durga Puja pandals in Faridabad that witness heavy footfalls: Faridabad Durga Bari at Bata, Faridabad Kalibari in Sector 16, and the Probasi Durga Puja in Sector 3. While organizers have taken commendable proactive steps to widen primary entrances, clear roadside encroachments, and build emergency rear exits, the inspection exposed alarming safety lapses, including an absolute lack of mandatory Fire Department No Objection Certificates (NOCs), absent firefighting equipment, and zero standby ambulances or dedicated police deployments on-site.

Faridabad Durga Bari at Bata: Broad Main Entrances and Rear Exits, But Zero Fire Equipment

The prominent pandal at Bata displayed effective crowd-dispersal layouts alongside critical infrastructural blind spots:

Unrestricted Bottleneck-Free Gates: The main entry gate to the Faridabad Durga Bari has been significantly widened, with informal street stalls and vehicle parking cleared away to maintain unobstructed pedestrian flow.

Secondary Evacuation Routes: The layout incorporates a dedicated open pathway at the rear of the complex, ensuring devotees have multiple egress channels to exit quickly if crowd density surges.

Fire Safety Non-Compliance: Despite the spacious layout, the venue lacked a formal Fire NOC and was found completely devoid of primary firefighting gear, such as functional fire extinguishers, water sand buckets, or overhead sprinklers, making open space alone inadequate against electrical or flammable fire hazards.

Faridabad Kalibari Sector 16: Four Evacuation Gates and Dedicated Prasad Counters

At the Sector 16 Kalibari pandal, organizers introduced specific crowd-segregation tactics to handle peak-hour visitor rushes:

Multi-Gate Configuration: Four distinct operational gates have been established to divide incoming and outgoing foot traffic, enhancing real-time evacuation capabilities.

Segregated Prasad Distribution: In a bid to stop sudden corridor bottlenecks, organizers created isolated counters for prasad distribution away from the primary sanctum entry.

Missing First-Response Infrastructure: Despite claims by puja committee representatives that coordination with district emergency teams was complete, on-ground inspections found no stationary ambulances, fire department response tenders, or dedicated police details stationed near the entrance.

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