DA Editorial Desk | Sara Debbarma
Durga Puja begins on 17 October, and Tripura’s police have already laid out their plans. More than 10,000 personnel of the police and the Tripura State Rifles will be deployed across the state. About 180 CCTV cameras will be installed at key locations in the city, and a green corridor will be kept open for ambulances and emergency vehicles during the puja days. Agartala alone will host about 450 community pujas.
These are sensible steps. But security in the festival season is more than a matter of numbers, and three concerns deserve attention.
The first is the road. The Chief Minister has said that road accidents fell by about 9 per cent in 2025, and this week he attended an event at which equipment worth Rs 1.29 crore was distributed to improve road safety and traffic management. Both are encouraging. But festival nights bring crowded bazaars, visitors unfamiliar with the roads, long evenings of pandal-hopping and a steady stream of two-wheelers. The police should plan visible checks at the main entry and exit points of Agartala and on the highways, with breath tests at night, since drunk driving is a real risk on festival nights. Diversions should be announced early, with parking arranged near the larger pandals so that vehicles do not clog the roads that ambulances will need.
The second is the crowd itself. Every large pandal should have clearly marked entry and exit routes, trained volunteers, a working first-aid post and a plan for what to do if a crush begins. Organising committees should check electrical wiring and fire safety before the doors open, not after. Inspections by the fire service and the electricity department should be completed and the results made known to the public. Police cannot be everywhere, and committees must take responsibility for their own pandals.
The third is the emergency response. A green corridor is only as good as its enforcement. Barricades, diversions and processions must never block it. Immersion processions, which bring thousands onto the roads and to the riverbanks, call for particular care. Hospitals in the city should be told in advance of the expected pressure, and ambulance crews should know which routes will be open each night.
There is also the simple matter of who the festival is for. Women, children and the elderly should feel as safe in the crowd as anyone else. Police and volunteers should be present in places where harassment is more likely, and complaint desks and helpline numbers should be easy to find. Neighbourhood committees, which know their own streets, can do a great deal to prevent trouble before it starts.
Nor should security turn into suspicion. The festival belongs to everyone, and the police should keep the peace without turning celebrations into an exercise in control.
A festival is judged by the memories it leaves. Tripura has a chance to make this one remembered for music, lights and togetherness, not for a preventable accident. The preparations are in place. What remains is the discipline of the next two weeks.