Gansagar Mela transit camp: Pre-paid taxi booth outside Outram Ghat

Following an appeal made by the Gangasagar Mela committee to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a pre-paid taxi booth will be placed outside Outram Ghat for the convenience of the pilgrims. The operation of this booth will start on January 13.

This booth will be set up with the help of a private app cab company, Uber. Apart from this, the Transport department will run 2,500 buses for the pilgrims. Over 4,600 buses are plied for the mela which includes both private and government buses. A single ticketing system has been introduced so that pilgrims do not have to buy a ticket on their way back.

The pilgrims will be able to buy tickets from Babughat and Howrah Railway Station. From these two points, they will be taken to Lot-8, from there to Kachuberia. From Babughat, the ticket will cost Rs 145 and from Howrah Station it will be Rs 140. The additional bus services will start from January 11.

Apart from this, there will be 32 vessels, 61 launches and six barges plied for the Mela. The vessels will be available from Namkhana. The movement of vessels, ferries and barges will be through 21 jetties that have been set up to facilitate the smooth passage of the pilgrims to Sagar Island and back.

Meanwhile, to cater to the expected surge in passenger traffic, Sealdah Division of Eastern Railway will be running over 12 special trains to and from Namkhana and Kakdwip for Sagar Island during the Mela period. Frequency of existing trains on the Sealdah-Namkhana and Kakdwip route will also be increased to ensure smooth and convenient travel for pilgrims.

To facilitate Gangasagar pilgrims to visit temples in and around Kolkata, WBTC will run a special route catering to Bhukailash Shiva temple, Kalighat temple and Dakshineswar temple from Babughat and Howrah from January to January 16. This route will be operated as per existing government fare chart. In total eight buses will run on this route–4 from Babughat and 4 from Howrah.