KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Thursday will commence her Durga Puja inauguration schedule. She will also unveil the newly constructed Tala Bridge on the day.
Banerjee will first inaugurate the Durga Puja of Sreebhumi Sporting Club and will follow it with FD Block in Salt Lake and Tala Park Prattoy. After inaugurating the three Pujas she will open the Tala Bridge.
The bridge will be thrown open for vehicular movement on Thursday itself. However, only light vehicles will be allowed initially considering the safety and security aspects.
"Buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles will start plying on the bridge after the Durga Puja,"Santosh Pandey, Joint Commissioner (Traffic), Kolkata Police said.
According to sources in the Public Works Department (PWD) that has constructed the bridge, a load test will be conducted before allowing heavy vehicles to ply.
The Sreebhumi Sporting Club which is celebrating its 50th year this time will bring St Peter's Basilica of Vatican City to Kolkata.
"The common people and the students read about the Vatican City in Rome in books but only a lucky few can travel overseas. Their cravings to visit the Vatican City will be satiated through our pandal this year," said Sujit Bose,
the patron of the Puja committee who also happens to be Bengal's Fire and Emergency Services minister.
The wall of the pandal will be decorated through intricate artwork by a team of artists from Kolkata and Santiniketan.
"The Puja is being inaugurated early due to the Chief Minister's busy schedule. But we will not be allowing visitors from Thursday. We will start welcoming revellers from the day after Mahalaya," an organiser from FD Block Durga Puja, which has themed its pandal in the form of a North American tribal village, said.
Unesco representatives, including Eric Falt, the Unesco cluster director, and envoys of several countries are expected to visit 22 big Durga Puja pandals in the city, as part of an innovative exhibition-cum-preview show of major pandals In Kolkata.
They are likely to visit on Friday and Saturday.