The Gangasagar Mela, which draws lakhs of pilgrims to the Sagar Island in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, may well turn out to be a “super spreader event” leading to a massive spurt in cases.

This is despite the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday modifying its earlier order regarding the Gangasagar Mela and making it mandatory for people to have a negative RT-PCR in the past 72 hours for entry into the island.

“Only those who have a Covid negative RTPCR report from less than 72 hours ago will be permitted to enter the Sagar Islands,” the division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice K D Bhutia said on Tuesday.

It is to be noted that the State, particularly Kolkata, has been witnessing a surge in the number of new cases since Christmas celebrations at Park Street drew huge crowds. Health experts fear that the Mela may lead to a similar situation but on a much more massive scale.

Annual Mela

The annual Gangasagar Mela, which attracts lakhs of pilgrims to the Sagar Island during Makar Sankranti, began on Sunday following the nod given by the Calcutta High Court.

The Mela held at the confluence of the Ganga and the Bay of Bengal, attracts close to 18 lakh people who come there to take a holy dip or Ganga snaan. It will end on January 16.

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This year, however, the crowd at Gangasagar Mela is expected to be much lower at around four-to-five lakh, as per State government estimates.

West Bengal on Tuesday registered 21,098 new Covid-19 cases, up from 19,286 on Monday. Test positivity rate was at 32.35 per cent on Tuesday. The State had reported a steep spike in new cases at 24,287 on January 9 (Sunday).

As on January 11, discharge rate was 93.20 per cent and fatality rate was 1.11 per cent. The State registered 19 deaths on Tuesday. Kolkata registered 6,565 new cases out of the total 21,098, North 24 Parganas registered 4,016, while South 24 Parganas registered 1,435 new cases on Tuesday.

The percentage of occupancy in Covid beds increased to six per cent. Experts fear massive pressure on hospital infrastructure if the numbers spike.

Committee reconstituted

The Calcutta High Court also reconstituted the committee which was set up to monitor the compliance of Covid restrictions at Gangasagar Mela.

The High Court had earlier formed a three-member committee comprising of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, a representative of the State, and a representative of the Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission. However, following a submission made by the State government that the committee formed by the Court “should not only be an independent Committee but it should not have political members”, it reconstituted the Committee with a retired judge of the court as its chairperson.

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The Court also added that when it had delivered the order on January 7, it was not made known to the court that the post of Chairman, Human Rights Commission, had fallen vacant, as had the post of Secretary of West Bengal Human Rights Commission.

“To avoid any misapprehension in the mind of the applicants or the State, we deemed it proper to reconstitute the committee with the retired Judge of this High Court as Chairperson to review the situation on the spot at Ganga Sagar Island,” the order by the division bench said.

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