Kolkata: Lakhs of people visited important places in the city and suburbs to observe the first day of the year with great enthusiasm.
There were long queues from early Monday morning at Cossipore Udyanbati where Kalpataru Utsav was held. It was on January 1, 1886, that Sri Ramakrishna blessed his householder disciples by wishing them higher consciousness.
From then the day is being observed by the devotees as "Kalpataru Divas." A special puja was held at Cossipore Math, a Centre of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in the morning.
In the afternoon, devotional songs were sung, followed by a religious meeting to propagate the messages of Sri Ramakrishna.
The devotees turned out in great numbers to offer puja at Dakshineswar temple. Special police arrangements were made so that the devotees could go and offer puja smoothly and peacefully. Adequate security arrangements were made in both the places.
People waited in long queues for hours to visit the room where Sri Ramakrishna, who was suffering from cancer, had stayed during the last leg of his life.
On New Year's day, the star attraction was Eco Park, the country's biggest urban park. On December 25, 1.07 lakh people had visited the place and since its inception in 2013, till December 31, 2017, 9.7 million people had visited the place.
Of the important sites at Eco Park, miniature replicas of the seven wonders of the world was the biggest crowd puller.
The Great Wall of China, the Pyramid, Christ the Redeemer of Rio De Janeiro along with Taj Mahal all saw huge crowds in front of them.
Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) has introduced e-tickets to help the visitors avoid long queues at the ticket
counters. CCTVs were installed and arrangements were made to ensure smooth flow of traffic along Biswa Bangla Sarani in the evening, shortly after the park closed. A new road has been constructed to divert airport-bound traffic.
In Kolkata, thousands of people visited Alipur Zoo and Victoria Memorial Hall. As the weather was pleasant, many people took a stroll along river Hooghly and Maidan in the afternoon.
After sundown, Park Street took the form of a mobile carnival. The road has been brightly lit-up by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). Security arrangements have been beefed up on the roads surrounding Park Street. People also thronged Nicco Park and Millennium Park.