Soon, Kalighat Temple area to be developed: CM

The state government is taking necessary steps to develop and beautify the area in and around Kalighat Temple in the city.

A high-level meeting was held in Nabanna in this connection on Tuesday. Parliamentary Affairs minister Partha Chatterjee, Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, Urban development minister Firhad Hakim and representatives from Kalighat Temple were present in the meeting headed by the Chief Minister in Nabanna.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, said: "The decision to undertake the work for development of the Kalighat Temple area has been taken in today's (Tuesday) meeting. We had taken up the initiative soon after coming to power in 2011. But for certain reasons, the plans were not got implemented."

"We have directed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to prepare three to four Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for Kalighat and DPRs have to be ready by August 31. We all will sit again after August 31 and will chose one of them according to which, the development work will be taken up," the Chief Minister said adding that there will be no changes in the basic structure of Kalighat for the development work. Though there could be some adjustments, no one will be evicted from the place. It may be mentioned that lakhs of people visit Kalighat Temple from different parts of the state and abroad. The state government has already taken several steps to ensure that devotees do not face any trouble while visiting Kalighat Temple. Now, the initiative for development of the area will help in giving a facelift to the surroundings of the temple. The Mamata Banerjee government has already taken initiatives for development of places including Dakshineswar, Tarakeswar, Bakreswar and Tarapith. The work of constructing the skywalk connecting the railway station up to the temple premises is going on in full swing. During a recently-held administrative review meeting in North 24 Parganas, the Chief Minister has given a deadline to complete the work and make the skywalk operational before the Kali Puja as lakhs of people visit Dakshineswar Temple at that time.

Similarly, a board has been formed and a huge amount of money has been sanctioned for an overall development of the area surrounding Tarakeswar Temple in Hooghly.