Gangasagar Mela: Mamata to reach Sagar Island today to oversee prep work

Gangasagar: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be visiting Sagar Islands to oversee last-minute preparations on January 8 and will be visiting the Bharat Sevashram Sangha and offer puja at the Kapil Muni temple on Monday afternoon.

She will be staying overnight at Gangasagar and the next day she will be attending a state government distribution programme at Joynagar in South 24-Parganas and then return to Kolkata.

On Tuesday late afternoon, (January 9), Banerjee will be overseeing the arrangements of the transit camp for the Gangasagar pilgrims at Babughat.

The Chief Minister’s chopper will land at the helipad in Sagar at around 1.30 pm on Tuesday. Banerjee will be virtually inaugurating several projects associated with the Sagar Islands.

“The Chief Minister will be inaugurating the lighting of the Gangasagar Mela executed by the state Public Health Engineering (PHE) department, the Sunderbans foot overbridge at Namkhana block and Ganga Setu of Patharpratima block both executed by the Sunderbans Affairs department and the water supply scheme at Sagar block of PHE department.

She will be also releasing a booklet associated with the Gangasagar Mela from the helipad,“ Bankim Chandra Hazra, state Sunderbans Affairs minister and MLA Sagar said.

From the helipad, Banerjee will head straight to Bharat Sevashram Sangha from where she will virtually inaugurate a Self-Help Group project of the Sangha at Mahendranagar. Banerjee will then visit the Kapil Muni temple and offer her puja there.

A senior official of the district administration said that the official inauguration of the Gangasagar Mela will be on Wednesday, January 10.

The state Irrigation and Waterways department is working on a war footing to counter the low tide synchronization which is expected to prevail during Gangasagar Mela particularly from January 13 to 15. year. The department that had faced the challenge of siltation in the deep channel of Lot 8 to the Kachuberia route for the first time this year has already completed the dredging of the 3A channel.

“Now we have taken up dredging of an alternate channel parallel to 3A which is known as 2A to ensure that movement along the Lot 8 to Kachuberia route can take place at least 20 to 22 hours a day so that the pilgrims visiting the Gangasagar Mela do not face any inconvenience. Two dredgers are being used, one in each end of channel 2A and we are hopeful that by December 9, we will be able to clear this channel too,” a senior official of the state Irrigation and Waterways department said.