Eco Park plays host to 21,000 people this Puja

Kolkata: Twenty one thousand people had visited Eco Park during the Puja.

It may be mentioned that the footfall in Eco Park named as Prakriti Tirtha by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has crossed 75 lakh since the urban garden was thrown open to people on January 1, 2012.

New Town became a new destination during the Pujas. The new attraction was the seven wonders which was lit up in the evening. People going to and from airport, stopped their vehicles to have a look of the miniature replicas of the seven wonders.

People came and parked their vehicles in the parking lot, free-of-cost during the four days of Durga Puja. They enjoyed strolling in the park which stands on an area of 480 acre of land and is surrounded by 104 acre of water body. The Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation ( HIDCO) has made elaborate arrangements to woo outsiders to New Town.

The two units of Café Ekante were flooded with people and special buffet menu had been served during the Pujas. There was an adda zone and people could watch different Pujas in giant LED screens. These had attracted people to sit, enjoy food and get involved in adda.

Eco Park is eastern India's biggest urban park which has been divided into several zones. A sculpture garden depicting Bengal's history was recently inaugurated by the state Urban development minister Firhad Hakim. The Japanese garden and the toy train, a replica of the famous toy train of Darjeeling, attracted the visitors.

There were people from north and south Kolkata visiting the housing complexes in New Town to enjoy cultural programmes. Because of excessive crowd, cultural programmes are no longer organised in Kolkata.

They are now being organized in Salt Lake where pujas are held in parks attached to every block and in New Town. The number of visitors in this year's puja was remarkable.