City denizens welcome New Year in style
1 Jan 2017 10:09 PM GMT
The city dwellers in large number visited various places in Kolkata to soak in the festive spirit on the New Year’s Eve on Saturday.
People in the city ushered in 2017 through various celebrations. They welcomed the New Year amidst various celebrations with their family members. Kolkata denizens took part in various prayers, picnics and conducted trips to popular tourist spots. Celebrations went on in full swing across the state.
Hundreds of people made a beeline for the city’s iconic Victoria Memorial, Alipore Zoo, Science City on Saturday and enjoyed the day with various celebrations.
Revellers from across the state soaked in the ambience of Eco Park and the Mother’s Wax Museum at city’s outskirts in Rajarhat. Religious places like the Dakshineswar temple, Kalighat temple, Kashipur Uddan Bati also received a huge number of footfalls on Saturday. The security was beefed up at Dakshineswar temple as it would celebrate Kalpatarun Utsav on January 1. Followers of Ramakrishna Paramhansa gather at the ancient Kali temple at Dakshineswar for the Kalpataru Utsav, which is celebrated on this day every year in memory of Ramakrishna Paramhansa.
Some people on the other hand preferred to stay away from madding crowd. Several groups took a trip to Digha, Mandarmani to celebrate the New Year while some others visited North Bengal to enjoy the beauty of the hills.
For the youngsters, Park Street has become their favourite destination from Saturday evening. People, mostly youngsters, joined late night parties on Park Street.
Transport dept takes steps to ensure availability of sufficient vehicles
The state Transport department has taken several steps to ensure availability of all sorts of transport facilities even at late night on the year end.
Hundreds of people have already set out to visit the places of interests since Saturday afternoon and the rush will continue till January 1 night. The Transport department officials have planned it accordingly so that the people do not face any inconvenience in returning home after welcoming the New Year from their favourite places.
According to a senior official of the state transport department, additional 100 buses will be on the road compared to that of other holidays. The buses will be plying between important locations where most people visit on such holidays.
There will be no trouble in getting buses till midnight, the official said, adding that many people visit Park Street, Eco Park, Rabindra Sadan, Belur Math, Dakshineswar and other places in the city from Saturday afternoon. Thus, additional buses will be plying through these locations.
Steps were also taken to ply more buses between favourite tourist spots including Digha, Gadiara, Mayapur, Kamarpukur and Jayrambati.
Keeping in mind the turnover of thousands of people at Kashipur Udyanbati, where Sri Ramakrishna breathed his last, to attend Kalapataru Utsav on January 1, additional steamers will be deployed to connect transit points at places like Dakshineswar, Belur Math, Kutighat and Babughat. Many people visit different temples like Tarapith, Kalighat, Dakshineswar and Tarakeswar to start their year by offering puja. It has been planned to make transport services available accordingly.
Initiatives have also been taken to let the revellers enjoy joy ride on the first day of the New Year. From Saturday afternoon onwards, the Mayurpankhi vessel started taking people for a ride on river Hooghly. People can also enjoy the ride on Sunday as well. Interested people can collect pass for the ride on Mayurpankhi from the ticket counter near Millennium Park.
At the same time people can also take a joy ride in both heritage and air-conditioned trams on Saturday and Sunday. One can book ticket to avail the special trams, both online as well as on spot.
Despite demonetisation having left an impact on the lifestyle of the common people, it has been assessed that they will somehow manage to visit the places of their choices on the first day of 2017.
There will be additional Metro services as well. It was learnt that 36 additional trains will be plying so that people can reach their destinations without facing any inconvenience.
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