Kolkata: With the Gangasagar Mela scheduled to kick off from January 8, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be visiting the Sagar Islands on the inaugural day to oversee preparations.
Banerjee would be visiting the island on January 8 and returning to Kolkata the next day. She was earlier scheduled to visit from January 3 to 4. Nabanna sources stated that the visit was postponed to January 8. Banerjee was scheduled to attend a programme commemorating Students’ Week on January 2 at Netaji Indoor Stadium which has also been cancelled. Banerjee, on her return from Sagar Islands, was scheduled to attend a distribution programme at Joynagar in South 24-Parganas on January 4 which too has been postponed.
Every year, the Chief Minister visits Gangasagar ahead of the Mela to oversee preparations for the annual congregation but this will be the first time when she will be visiting the fair on the inaugural day. During a meeting at Nabanna Sabhaghar on the preparations for Gangasagar Mela last week, Banerjee herself had announced that the Mela will begin from January 8 and will continue till January 17.
Bankim Chandra Hazra, Sunderban Affairs minister and MLA Sagar, said that he was informed by district administration about the postponement of the Chief Minister’s visit to Sagar Island.
“We have started making fresh preparations for her visit,” Hazra said.
Sources at Nabanna, however, remained tight-lipped about the reason for postponement of Banerjee’s programmes. Banerjee on Friday underwent a minor surgery in her shoulder at the Woodburn Block of SSKM Hospital. During her health checkup, a tumour was spotted on her right shoulder which was operated. She was released after a minor surgery. She sustained injuries on her left knee in June 2023 when her helicopter had to make an emergency landing at the IAF helipad in Sevoke near Siliguri. In September, her left knee was injured again during a 12-day tour of Spain and Dubai.