Mamata likely to inaugurate Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Digha soon

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to inaugurate the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Digha on August 20.

State Power minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay visited the Centre on Sunday and oversaw the last minute arrangements. Work is underway on war footing to give final touches.

Meanwhile, underground electricity lines are set to replace overhead wires in the popular beach destination. Vast areas of the sea town remain without power when the overhead lines get snapped due to storms or heavy squall. The project to install the underground cables is likely to be completed by December.

Chattopadhyay held a high-level meeting with senior officials including the zonal and divisional managers along with other senior officials of West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) at Digha on Sunday.

Trinamool Congress MLA Akhil Giri and other functionaries of East Midnapore Zilla Parishad also attended the meeting. Chattopadhyay asked the engineers of WBSEDCL to expedite completion of the project.

The foundation stone of Biswa Bengla Convention Centre, which is coming up at New Digha, was laid by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on July 11, 2017. It has come up on 5.5 acres of land.

The Centre is the only of its kind in the coastal area and has been built so that international conventions and exhibitions along with business meets can be held at the coastal town to promote tourism, commerce and industry. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 350 crore.

The four-storey building houses an exhibition centre covering an area of 1,000 square metres. There is a seminar hall with capacity of 300 persons, conference room and a modern auditorium with a seating capacity of 1,000 persons. Each floor covers a 1,722 square metre area.

After coming to power in 2011, Mamata Banerjee took up development of Digha. New Digha has since become a tourist hotspot with numerous hotels coming up. The embankment has been beautified. There is also the facility of aquatic sports. Beach festivals are held in December, which attract thousands of tourists every year.

Digha came up as a tourist spot in the early 1960s with initiative of then Chief Minister Dr B C Roy. However, during the Left Front regime, no major development took place in Digha. Along with Digha, the state government has now taken up schemes to develop Mandarmani, Tajpur and Shankarpur as well.