Covid cases rising, Bengal govt should consider plea to ban Gangasagar Mela: Cal HC

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday said it expects that the West Bengal government will seriously consider the plea to ban the Gangasagar Mela this year owing to the severity of the spread of Covid-19 cases.

The state said it will inform the court of its decision on Thursday.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice K D Bhutia, hearing a PIL seeking that this year's Gangasagar Mela be stopped owing to the pandemic, noted the advocate general's submission that the state authorities will consider the plea and take an appropriate decision in respect of either banning the fair or taking measures to regulate the rush.

The bench said it has been assured of by the advocate general that the decision in this regard will be taken and the affidavit of the competent authority will be placed on record before the court by 2.00 pm on Thursday.

''Having regard to the severity of spreading of COVID virus, we expect that the State will seriously consider the plea to ban the Mela this year and take a decision in this regard,'' the bench said in its order.

The bench said that the state government, while taking a decision, should keep in view an earlier order of this court holding that life is more important in every sense in comparison to religious practices, beliefs and faith.

The court said the state should also be mindful of the possibility of the spread of the virus on account of oral and nasal droplets during the holy dip at the confluence of River Ganga and Bay of Bengal and the safety of people other than the pilgrims.

''The State will duly take into account the positivity rate of virus and fact that within the last 24 hours there is 50 per cent increase in number of cases and also the fact that large number of doctors are already infected,'' the court said in its order.

Seeking a direction to the state government not to hold the annual Gangasagar Mela scheduled between January 8 and 16 on the occasion of Makar Sankranti at Sagar Island, about 130 kms from Kolkata, the petitioner's counsel submitted that a large number of pilgrims gather there to take a holy dip and sometimes the footfall reaches up to 18 lakh. He submitted that on account of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the state, it is not in the larger public interest to hold such a mela. The counsel pointed out that the number of Covid cases in the state on December 29, 2021, was only 1,089, which increased to 9,073 on January 4. Submitting that in one day from January 3 to January 4, the increase is from 6,078 to 9,073, which is about 50 per cent, he prayed that the entire Gangasagar area should be declared as notified area or containment zone.

He stated that the present positivity rate is 33.63 per cent in Kolkata and in the Gangasagar mela, almost 50 per cent police force of the state will be deployed which will expose even members of the force to the virus.

He submitted that in 2021, certain guidelines were issued to regulate the crowd in the mela when the second wave had not started, but at present West Bengal is in the midst of a third wave of the pandemic.

The counsel appearing for West Bengal Doctors' Forum, which was added as a party on the matter on its prayer, stated that not only the Omicron variant of Covid-19, but the Delta variant is also spreading and pilgrims from all over the country will come through public transport to the mela and in the process get infected and spread the virus to others. He also submitted that the main ceremony of the mela can be held through the virtual mode.