Sagar Islands: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday laid the foundation stone and inaugurated a slew of projects worth Rs 2,324.30 crore in South 24-Parganas and the adjoining North 24-Parganas district.
She laid the foundation stone for 70 projects involving an investment of Rs 1,929.37 crore, including the Rs 1,670-crore Gangasagar Setu over the Muriganga River and inaugurated 96 projects valued at Rs 394.93 crore.
“It was a long-standing demand of the people of Sunderbans, including those of Sagar Islands, for a bridge connecting Lot 8 in Kakdwip with Sagar on the opposite side, as the people have to face a lot of hardship travelling along waterways for crossing over. Today (Monday), I laid the foundation stone of the 5-km bridge for which the state government has already sanctioned Rs 1670 crore. The agreement letter has been officially handed over today to Larsen & Toubro, which has bagged the tender for the construction of the four-lane bridge. It will take two to three years for the construction of the bridge,” said Banerjee, addressing a distribution programme on Monday.
According to Banerjee, the bridge will benefit 3 lakh odd people and will facilitate trade, education, employment and will also be a big boost to tourism. Most importantly, reaching out to the people of Sunderbans during times of natural calamities with relief and rehabilitation will be easier. “We had requested the Centre to allocate funds for the Gangasagar Setu, citing the importance of the Gangasagar Fair, which draws pilgrims from across the country. However, there has been no response and not a single rupee has been sanctioned. We do not wish to beg for funds repeatedly, and therefore decided to construct the bridge entirely with our own resources. While the Centre has not granted national fair status to the Gangasagar Mela, the people themselves have accorded it national recognition, and that is enough for us,” Banerjee said.
Banerjee inaugurated 20 new cottages constructed by the Tourism department and christened them ‘Ganganna’, and also a 100-bed dormitory of the Tourism department worth Rs 8.80 crore christening it as ‘Sagar Kanya’.
Apart from this, Banerjee inaugurated projects related to road construction and repairs, power infrastructure development, augmentation of water supply, and the construction of bridges for infrastructure development and irrigation works.
She also laid the foundation stone for projects involving drainage infrastructure, drinking water supply, irrigation, jetty development, and road construction and repairs, based on proposals received under the ‘Amader Para, Amader Samadhan’ programme.
Banerjee handed over government benefits to 2.26 lakh people, with the amounts credited directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts, formally marking the rollout through a token handover to select beneficiaries from Sagar.