With West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee scheduled to visit London in July, eminent artist and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Jogen Chowdhury hopes that the visit provides valuable pointers on preserving Kolkata’s heritage.
This will be Banerjee’s maiden visit to the UK capital. The CM will leave for London on the evening of July 26 and return to Kolkata on July 31. State Finance Minister Amit Mitra, film star and MP Dev and Kolkata mayor <g data-gr-id="30">Sovon</g> Chatterjee will accompany the Chief Minister to London.
Chowdhury said ever since the TMC came to power in the state in 2011, Banerjee has been insisting on cleaning and beautifying the City of Joy. He added that even the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), ruled by the TMC, has made efforts in this direction. But the increasing number of high-rises in some parts of the city worries the artist. “Kolkata should not look like Singapore or Dubai. New high-rise buildings are not only destroying the old middle-class houses and neighbourhood (paras) of the city, which should be preserved, but also putting tremendous pressure on infrastructure such as roads, drainage, water supply,” he said.
Chowdhury feels that the authorities concerned should not allow construction of buildings beyond the eighth floor in the city. “Random construction of high-rises should be banned. High-rises should be allowed to come up only in select pockets, for example in Rajarhat or outside Kolkata, which still being developed. This is already being done in Paris,” he said.
He feels that there should be a designated space for hawkers from where they can sell their products. “For example, <g data-gr-id="31">Jadu</g> Babur Bazaar can be developed into a market housing multi-storey buildings. <g data-gr-id="32">Hawkers</g> can sell their wares on the lower floors and avoid clogging the pavements. The market should be designed in such a way that customers are attracted to shop here,” said Chowdhury.
Choudhury wishes that the Chief Minister visits other beautiful cities such as Amsterdam, Florence, Berlin, Paris and those in China and Japan that are clean, well-maintained and lay emphasis on preserving the traditional architecture. “Maybe the CM should look at the Tate Modern Museum as a model for a new museum for preserving modern art in Kolkata,” he added.