Kolkata Police Musical Band allowed to attend state reception

Kolkata: The Kolkata Police Musical band, which was initially unable to enter the Raj Bhawan to attend the state reception as part of the Republic Day programme in Kolkata, succeeded in entering the premises after the intervention of CM Mamata Banerjee.

Following this, the CM said: "You cannot neglect the West Bengal police. Raj Bhawan is under the state government. Bands which were under the central government were performing while the Kolkata Police band was stopped from entering the premises."

Banerjee noted the Kolkata Police band was invited but were left waiting outside. "Why were they not allowed to enter the premises?" Banerjee said.


"The The Kolkata Police bandset was assigned space different from the usual practice. When this was pointed out, I intervened and called the Police bandset and gave them a suitable place where they continued to perform. I also explained it to the Hon'ble CM. When I reported this to the Hon'ble Governor, he ordered that any departure from precedence on ceremonial ocassions should be done only with the prior approval of the Chief of Staff," Sandeep Kr Singh, OSD to Governor, said. After that, the Kolkata Police band played various tunes on the Raj Bhawan lawns as is customarily done on Republic Day every year.