IIT-KGP plan in works for accessible Pujo

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT-KGP) to help design a programme to make Durga Puja more accessible for senior citizens, people with disability and pregnant women and children. A draft plan in this regard will be submitted by IIT-KGP next week. The West Bengal government is also part of the project.

Junhi Han, chief of culture sector, UNESCO South Asia Regional Office-New Delhi, said that in 2024, more than 185 million people, including 17,000 foreigners, visited West Bengal during Durga Puja, making it one of the largest cultural gatherings globally. "The festival's economic contribution is $10.2 billion... Despite global appeal, its benefit was not accessible to elderly persons, disabled, women and children... To address this gap, UNESCO, UN, West Bengal government, massArt and IIT-KGP have come up with this Accessibility Programme," Han said.

Haimanti Banerji, professor, Department of Architecture & Regional Planning, IIT-KGP, said, "The draft plan will be ready within one week. We started the work around two months back. We have consulted domain experts and visited the puja pandals."


The plan will include specific guidelines, she said, adding, "We will follow specific zones - pickup and drop zones, pickup to pandal, usage of ramps, food zone, resting area, parking. There will be specific guidelines which puja committees will be customising. Proper signage would be used."

The accessibility programme will be first implemented from September 18-22 by massArt, a Kolkata based non-governmental organisation. "The accessibility programme will have common guidelines which will be implemented across Bengal," Dhrubojyoti Banerjee, secretary, massArt.