Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Lessons in risk management, resource allocation, operations planning, and stakeholder engagement: the case of the Kolkata Police Force and Durga Puja

  • Case Study
  • Published:
DECISION Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study explores how the key challenges associated with mega-events revolve around the management of risk, resources, operations planning and stakeholder engagement. Examined throughout this paper are the challenges and achievements of The Kolkata Police Force (KPF) in their role of ensuring safety for the public during the Durga Puja mega-festival. The paper evaluates the various strategies adopted by the KPF to overcome the multifarious challenges of organizing the mega-event. Also offered in this paper is a detailed discussion and suggestions for strategic improvements to multiple-stakeholder collaboration in managing mega-events that are at the scale and scope of the Durga Puja in Kolkata.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Durga Puja has 8 important days (though West Bengal declared 5 official public vacation days for educational and public institutions during the festival). The Durga Puja calendar of days refer to: Mahalaya (marking the pre-Durga Puja start, which fell on October 15th in 2012), Panchami (mentioned above, which fell on October 18th), Shashti (October 20th), Saptami (October 21st), Ashtami (October 22nd), Nabami (October 23rd), Dashami (October 24th), and Lakshmi Puja (marking the end of the Durga Puja festival, held on October 29th).

  2. One workshop manager quoted the production of all Kumortuli crafted idols at INR 100,000 for the 2012 Durga Puja festival.

  3. The Hooghly is a distributary channel of the Ganges River in West Bengal, India.

  4. The term ‘ghat’ is used in Bengali and Hindi for riverbank, where Durga idols are offered (immersed) to bid goddess Durga farewell as she returns to her husband’s house at Mount Kailash after ‘visiting her parents house’. with her children; the immersion signifies the end of the festival.

  5. Though Kolkata has one of the shortest lengths of city roads in India, just 1,750 km; its vehicular density is among the highest, with a total number of registered vehicles at 750,000.

  6. KPF had to undergo negotiations with local hawker unions to avoid road encroachment interference during the major celebration days of the festival.

  7. A major fire broke out at the AMRI Hospital in south Kolkata in December 2011, caused by flammable materials which caught fire in the basement of the building, leading to the death of some 100 persons.

  8. Limited data was made available regarding important resource dynamics including inventory of existing resources, and the many types of resources in need, resource cost and cost/benefit, usage, alternative resource pools, and data on resource allocation and management from previous years.

  9. While demographic statistics in West Bengal (and in India at large) are dauntingly opaque and are at times controversial, it is commonly understood that Kolkata is one of the youngest cities on the planet as per population density. According to the 2011 Census, West Bengal was India’s fourth most populous state, and a report by the IRIS Knowledge Foundation and UN-Habitat (2013) estimated the West Bengal youth (in the working age segment, ages 15–32) to be 42.2 % of the total population, and growing. It is also notable that perhaps the majority of Bengal’s youth population is ‘floating’ to urban areas (rural-to-urban migration), as is the case for India aggregately; the Census estimates that some 40 % of India’s youth population now lives in cities.

    Sources:

    http://censusindia.gov.in/

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/135754970/State-of-the-Urban-Youth-India-Report-2013.

  10. In 2012, the KPF organized more than 2,000 volunteers to assist traffic police during the Durga Puja.

  11. Kolkata Police Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kolkata-Police/.

  12. CCTVs were increased from the usual 22 cameras to 65 cameras during Durga Puja in 2012 and locations under close watch were identified during the pre-puja planning period.

  13. The KPF started the single-window system in 2011, for issuing NOCs to puja organizing committees. This allowed them to apply and register all in one at the local police station, rather than multiple approvals from the police, the fire and emergency services department, Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation, as was the requirement of the past.

  14. Although the number of officers did not increase from 2011 to 2012, the KPF best utilized officers on duty by pre-selecting the best available reinforcement officers to relieve higher-ranked officers for short breaks to revitalize them to resume their duties for continuous hours.

  15. The KPF implemented a 30 % augmentation of the police force in 2012, mostly borrowing officers from other duties (especially from traffic police).

  16. Factors beyond human resource allocation, such as stronger collaboration with stakeholders on resource management, and creative risk management solutions to reduce the very need for more human resources, could be foundational aspects of their management modification plan.

References

  • Andersson T, Getz D (2007) Resource dependency, costs and revenues of a street festival. Tour Econ 13(1):143–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson T, Getz D (2008) Stakeholder management strategies of festivals. J Conv Event Tour 9(3):199–220

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Batt P, Purchase S (2004) Managing collaboration within networks and relationships. Ind Mark Manage 33(3):169–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berlonghi A (1994) The special event risk management manual. Berlonghi, Dana Point, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowker G, Star SL (1999) Sorting things out: classification and its consequences. MIT Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson L (1996) The normal science of structural contingency theory. In: Clegg S, Hardy C, Nord C (eds) Handbook of organizational studies. Sage, London, pp 57–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Engwall M, Jerbrant A (2003) The resource allocation syndrome: the prime challenge of multi-project management? Int J Project Manage 21(6):403–409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman R (1984) Strategic management: a stakeholder approach. Pitman Publishing, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Getz D (2007) Event studies: theory, research and policy for planned events. Routledge, Butterworth-Heinemann

    Google Scholar 

  • Jennings W (2012) Mega-events and risk colonization, risk management and the Olympics. Discussion paper no. 71. The Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation. The London School of Economics and Political Science

  • Jennings W, Lodge M (2011) Governing mega-events: tools of security risk management for the London 2012 Olympic Games and FIFA 2006 World Cup in Germany. Gov Oppos 46(2):192–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loosemore M (2007) The problems with current risk management practices: how to overcome them. In: Xie M, Patnaikuni I (eds) Innovations in structural engineering and construction: proceedings of the 4th international structural engineering and construction conference, 2 vols. Taylor & Francis, London, pp 29–37

  • Mitchell R, Agle B, Wood D (1997) Towards a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: defining the principle of who and what really counts. Acad Manage Rev 22(4):853–886

    Google Scholar 

  • Perrow C (2011) Normal accidents: living with high-risk technologies. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfeffer J, Salancik G (1978) The external control of organizations: a resource dependency perspective. Harper and Row, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Power M (2007) Organized uncertainty: organizing a world of risk management. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid S, Arcodia C (2002) Understanding the role of the stakeholder in event management. In: Events and place marketing, presented at the event research conference, UTS Sydney

  • Savage G, Nix T, Whitehead C, Blair J (1991) Strategies for assessing and managing organizational stakeholders. Acad Manage Executive 5(2):51–75

    Google Scholar 

  • Snavely K, Tracy M (2000) Collaboration among rural nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit Manage Lead 11(2):145–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support received from the Kolkata Police Force and the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta Case Research Center (IIMCCRC) for conducting this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Calcutta, India

    Sumanta Basu, Indranil Bose & Sumita Ghosh

Authors
  1. Sumanta Basu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Indranil Bose
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sumita Ghosh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sumanta Basu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Basu, S., Bose, I. & Ghosh, S. Lessons in risk management, resource allocation, operations planning, and stakeholder engagement: the case of the Kolkata Police Force and Durga Puja. Decision 40, 249–266 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40622-013-0022-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40622-013-0022-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation