CM to visit Sagar Island today, review Mela arrangements

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be visiting Sagar Island to oversee the last minute arrangements for Gangasagar Mela on Monday.

District Magistrate South 24-Parganas, Sumit Gupta along with senior officials of the district administration and police top brass have camped in Sagar since Sunday, conducting a series of meetings to set the stage ahead of CM’s arrival. They inspected key sites like Lot-8 in Kakdwip, Kachuberia Bus Stand, Benubon Jetty and the Gangasagar Mela grounds. They also monitored dredging operations in the Muriganga River.

Sources said the CM will arrive at Gangasagar by helicopter on Monday afternoon. She will inaugurate several projects, including a 100-bed hospital for pilgrims near Gangasagar Helipad Ground, a jetty at Patharpratima, additional classrooms in various schools, roads under the ‘Pathashree’ project and multiple Anganwadi centres.

She will also officially handover 95 fishermen, who will be returning from Bangladesh after their release, to their families. Banerjee will visit Bharat Sevashram Sangha and Kapil Muni Ashram that day and stay the night at Sagar Island. She will reside at the Public Health Engineering department’s resort ‘Urmimukhar’ where she will chair a review meeting with ministers and district officials on the fair’s preparations.

She will return to Kolkata on Tuesday.Banerjee will also be taking stock of the security arrangements at the fair scheduled to be held from January 10 to 17. The Sagar sea route shares its border with Bangladesh which is in turmoil. Earlier, she had called for strict and silent vigilance and alertness to prevent any untoward incident during the Mela. Banerjee had instructed increasing watch towers and had appealed to the Indian Navy and Coast Guard and the bordering police for strict vigil.

There will be 1,150 CCTVs for surveillance in the fair and 20 drones. More than 12,000 police personnel will be deployed. Traffic regulations have been planned and there will be patrolling in the waters too. Meanwhile, Mahant Sanjoy Das of Kapil Muni temple at Gangasagar alleged indifference on the part of the Centre in addressing the erosion issues in the area.

Das said that the erosion issue could have been addressed more effectively had the Centre showed an interest. “Didi (Mamata Banerjee) has tried her best and has always taken up repair and rejuvenation of the damaged embankments time and again for protection of the Kapil Muni Temple. With the flow of tourists increasing by leaps and bounds at Gangasagar, Didi has also taken up development of the place,” said Das, successor of Mahant Gyan Das of Kapil Muni Temple.