Double vaccination compulsory to participate in Durga puja rituals: Calcutta HC

“The court said that local residents, who have already received their double doses, may take part in puja activities such as sindur khela and pushpanjali. The certificates of double vaccination would have to be submitted to the organisers. Police would conduct spot verification. All other curbs imposed by the court in its earliest order remain the same,” advocate Sabyasachi Chatterjee, was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

The court has already banned the entry of visitors in the puja pandals.

There is also a limit on the number of organisers, who can enter the puja pandals at a time.

For a bigger puja this number is 60, for a small puja the number is 15.

The puja organisers need to install barricades at a distance of 10 metres away from the outer end of the big pandal and five metres away from the outer end of the smaller pujas – to ensure the pandals are a no-entry zone for visitors.

This is the second year that the Durga Puja would be held in a low profile manner in West Bengal because of the high court orders to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Last year, the court had banned "pushpanjali" and "sindur khela".

In order to ensure the court's directions are implemented, joint teams comprising the fire brigade department, senior officers of the Kolkata Police, and the power supply corporation among others have been inspecting some of the biggest puja pandals.

West Bengal has at least 36,000 community pujas every year on annual Durga Puja festival, including the 2,500 organised in Kolkata alone by registered clubs.

Apart from these there are pujas organised by residences and housing societies.