Record footfall despite evening rainfall

Even as rains paid a late evening visit,Kolkata witnessed a huge turnout on Mahanavami.

Even as rains paid a late evening visit,Kolkata witnessed a huge turnout on Mahanavami. The enthusiasm and spirits of pandal-hoppers were upbeat for a major part of the day,except in the evening when the numbers of pandal hoppers thinned with the increase in downpour.

North and south Kolkata witnessed a record footfall on Sunday. Puja pandals,including Mohammad Ali Park,Santosh Mitra Square and College Square Ahiritola remained crowd pullers in central and north Kolkata while the Pujas in Behala,Gariahat and New Alipore attracted over 5 lakh people today.

Nearly 5 lakh people have visited our pandal over the past two days. On Saptami,the footfall was comparatively lower than Ashtami and Navami,due to the sporadic showers. In fact,there has been a 20 per cent increase in the number of people visiting our pandal this year, said Arup Biswas,president of the Suruchi Sangha Puja committee in New Alipore.

Hordes of foreign tourists have also been seen descending on various pandals in the city.

Several foreign tourists have taken permission to take photographs of our pandals. Many sought permission to make documentary films on the festivities in the city during the Pujas, said Firhad Hakim,president of Chetla Agrani Club in south Kolkata.

Pandal hoppers faced a harrowing time on Saturday when the city was plunged into complete darkness for 30 minutes at midnight,triggering massive traffic disruptions and choc-a-bloc streets.

The power department,however,assured that there would be no powercuts on Sunday.

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The requirement for Sunday is 4,700 megawatts in the state,including the CESC area. We do not have any shortfall today. We are ready to meet the power demands on the last day of Pujas, said G D Gautama,state power secretary.

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