Pandal hopping without the crush: Saptami to Dashami 2026

At about a quarter to eight on Saturday evening, 17 October, there was a crowd crush at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin puja in north Kolkata, also known as the Sarada Park puja, in the Girish Park police station area. It was raining heavily at the time. At about 1 am on Sunday the chief minister said 19 people had died and 25 were injured, one critically. The cause has not been established. He has announced a special investigation team led by a sitting Calcutta High Court judge.

If you have been looking for someone since Saturday, call the state's toll-free number, 1800 345 5678, or the Lalbazar control room line opened for the incident, 033 2214 1310.

Saptami falls on Sunday 18 October and Bijoya Dashami on Wednesday 21. Our Durga Puja 2026 day-by-day guide covers the rites. This piece is about getting round the pandals and home again, and where a line is our own advice rather than an official's, we say so.

When to go out, and the Metro home

No police or government figures have been published for how crowded each pandal is, hour by hour. What is known is that Saturday's crush came at about 7.45 pm, in the rain.

Our own advice, judgement rather than measurement, is to keep out of the long queues at the big pujas around dusk and go in daylight or late at night.

Late at night the Metro is the way home. Metro Railway Kolkata has announced night-long services on the Blue and Green Lines for the Puja. From 17 to 20 October the Blue Line runs from 1 pm until about 4 am the next morning, around 248 trains a day, and the Green Line from 1.30 pm to a last train at 3.59 am. On Saptami, Ashtami and Navami nights, then, a late finish still leaves you a train home.

On Bijoya Dashami the Blue Line runs from 1 pm to 10.30 pm. The Yellow and Purple Lines do not run all night: until 20 October the Yellow Line runs from 3 pm to 10.53 pm, and the Purple Line from 3 pm to 10.55 pm until 21 October. The Orange Line has no service at all from 17 to 21 October. Our Puja Metro guide shows which station is nearest which pandal.

Will it rain?

No heavy rain is forecast. The India Meteorological Department's forecast for Kolkata (Alipore) has a partly cloudy Sunday, then mainly clear skies to Wednesday, with some afternoon or evening cloud on Monday and Tuesday. There is no warning for any day. Highs are about 31 to 32°C, lows 25 to 26°C. On Saturday the Regional Meteorological Centre in Kolkata also forecast a mainly dry Puja for the state, with no moderate or heavy rain and only isolated light showers.

A forecast is not a promise, though. Saturday evening brought a downpour. Take an umbrella or a raincoat.

What to look for when you reach a pandal

The way out. The National Disaster Management Authority's guide to managing crowds at mass gatherings puts one duty first for visitors, which is to get to know the venue, its entry and exit points and where the medical help is. Before you join the queue, find the exit.

Kolkata Traffic Police's Puja guide map marks police assistance booths, hospitals and ambulances, Metro stations, one-way streets and the roads closed to traffic, with a note that arrangements may change according to traffic conditions.

If you go as a group, agree on a place to meet if anyone gets separated, as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises for any mass gathering. The NDMA guide also says to travel light and keep the emergency numbers with you, and asks visitors not to spread rumours.

With children and older relatives

Kolkata Police says its Bandhu Kolkata vehicles are out from 4 pm every day from 15 to 20 October, until the festivities end, to reunite lost children, women and senior citizens with their families. The number is 9163737373. The police have not said whether the service runs on Dashami, 21 October.

If you are caught in a crush

Move before you are caught. If the crowd around you is getting dangerously tight, get out while you still can.

If you are already caught, the CDC's advice on travel to mass gatherings is not to resist the force of the crowd but to go with it, and when the movement pauses, to work your way diagonally towards the edge. “Try to stay on your feet.” The CDC also advises keeping your hands in front of your chest like a boxer and your footing firm. If you fall, curl into a ball to protect yourself, “stay calm and get up as soon as you can.”

If the way ahead is blocked, the NDMA guide says, don't push forward and don't push back. Hold where you are, and tell the people behind you to hold too until the way clears.

When the way ahead is blocked, neither push forward nor push back.

Quieter pujas near the famous ones

Many of Kolkata's best-known pujas have a smaller one within a few hundred metres. We have no crowd counts, so we can't promise these will be empty, only that in our judgement a less famous pandal tends to have a shorter queue. Distances are straight-line; the walk is a little longer.

Each pandal's page gives its nearest Metro station and the walk from it; all four Bagbazar and Ahiritola pujas are within walking distance of Shobhabazar Sutanuti station.

Which pujas have stopped letting visitors in?

Chorbagan Sarbojanin is closed to visitors, the chief minister said. On Saturday night the authorities had Tala Prattoy, Alipore Sarbojanin and Chetla Agrani Club stop letting visitors in, and the show at Allen Park was cancelled. At Santosh Mitra Square the puja committee's president, Sajal Ghosh, said they had scaled down the number of visitors allowed in.

Police called the closures temporary. The state administration and Kolkata Police hold a review meeting on Sunday, and which pujas will reopen has not been announced. Nor have the police issued a new crowd advisory, one-way plan or time limit, and the Metro has announced no change to its hours. Check the Kolkata Police website or ask at the local police station before you set out.

Numbers to save

These come from the Kolkata Traffic Police Puja guide, Kolkata Police and the West Bengal Police emergency list. The two Chorbagan lines were announced on Saturday night.

Plan the route before you leave

Our Puja route planner works out which pandals to walk between and which station to get off at, and the pandal guide lists each puja with its address, neighbourhood and nearest station. Before you go, check the last train back. On Dashami night the last Blue Line train is at 10.30 pm.

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