Kolkata: In a bid to avert any incident of fire, the state government is taking all necessary moves to ensure a "hogla pata free" Gangasagar Mela in 2019.
Gangasagar Mela in Sagar Island takes place in January every year, in which lakhs of pilgrims from all over the country turn up to take holy dip at the confluence of river Ganga.
The state government initiates the necessary planning from September onwards to ensure a safe and secure Gangasagar Mela and a meeting with the Chief Secretary was already held in Nabanna in the last week.
Sources said that following direction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, initiatives have been taken to make the mela "hogla pata free". Usually, hogla leaves are used in making makeshift accommodation facilities for people who visit the place during the mela.
More than 1,000 huts are required to be set up every year for accommodation of the people. But it has been pointed out that the hogla leaves highly inflammable. There was also an incident of a small fire at the Gangasagar Mela in 2017.
The matter came up in the meeting that was held in Nabanna last week and the concerned authorities have started carrying out the necessary work to find out an alternate material, using which the huts can be made.
"Engineers of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department, the modal department to organise the mela, are carrying out a study to finalise the material that can be used to construct the makeshift huts," said a senior state government official, adding that it was initially thought that corrugated tin can be used to build the huts. "But it would not be that safe as it is a good conductor of electricity. Since many wires need to be laid to transmit power to the makeshift structures, using corrugated tin would not be a good option," the official said.
He further added that the PHE engineers are trying to find out a fire retardant material that can be used to construct the huts.
Makeshift accommodation facilities are set up for senior administrative and police officers, media persons, volunteers and pilgrims. Hogla leaf huts lined up one after the other had been a common feature of the mela for ages. Now, with the initiative taken by the state government, it would be a safer and more secure mela for the pilgrims.