Calcutta high court raises Ganga Sagar mela concern – Times of India

KOLKATA: Asking the Bengal government to give it “clear suggestions” on how the Ganga Sagar mela can be “regulated, controlled or if necessary, even dropped for the current year” by 2 pm on Friday, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday said primacy should be given to “right to life”. The HC says “right to life” weighs over all other rights especially during a pandemic.
A division bench of Chief Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee directed the Bengal government to place a report by a senior medical officer specifying steps for “preventive management” if Ganga Sagar Mela is permitted to be held this year. The HC said, “The measures indicated should take care of congestion on the banks, in the water bodies, in the roads and other available places including the places where public are provided eateries, toilets and other facilities.”
The HC said that issues relating to health, safety, and welfare of the pilgrims in the Ganga Sagar Mela held in Sagar Islands on Pous Sankranti had prompted the Bengal government even back in 1976 to enact the Ganga Sagar Mela Act. The HC said even children below 12 years, women, sanyasis attend this mela.
The HC said that the health concerns involved in this pandemic now are far worse than what it was back in 1976.
“A grimmer situation should necessarily prompt the State to make more rigorous provisions having in mind the duties of the State. It is in consonance with the fundamental right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. The pandemic situation which has visited us now is not something on which there could be any roll back through human intervention, without protective measures being in place,” the four-page order said.
The annual Ganga Sagar Mela, which is attended by lakhs of pilgrims from across the country and from neighbouring Nepal, will be held from January 12 to January 16.
The Bengal government plans to set up a 600-bed Covid hospital, six wellness centres, eight safe homes, 11 quarantine centres and five isolation centres at Ganga Sagar mela site. Another temporary hospital on the mela ground will have 75 beds, including 10 SARI Beds, 10 safe home beds and five critical care unit (CCU) beds. There will be two air ambulances, three water ambulances, 100 ambulances, 1,050 CCTV cameras, 20 drones, 6,000 volunteers from 140 NGOs and 10,000 toilets in the fair area.