Raj Bhavan opens doors for all on Poila Baisakh

Kolkata: Bengal Governor Dr C V Ananda Bose on Saturday opened the doors of Raj Bhavan for common people to mark the auspicious occasion of Poila Baisakh (Bengali New Year’s Day) as part of ‘Jana Raj Bhavan’ programme to link with the common man.

He inaugurated a heritage walk, in collaboration with the Indian Museum, at Raj Bhavan on Saturday morning in which students of Calcutta University and underprivileged children and representatives of several other states participated.

Wishing the people of the state on the occasion of ‘Poila Baishakh’, Bose said the Heritage Walk “has been organised to establish peace. Please bring peace to the world. Please bring peace to Bengal. Please bring peace to the country. Bengal will regain all its glory. I wish everyone well.”

During the Heritage Walk, people saw various attractions inside the campus of the 220-year-old palatial building namely — the Royal Coat of Arms, a Chinese Canon, Grand Stairs, North Marble Hall, Central Marble Hall, South Marble Hall, Asia’s first elevator and the library, besides the garden, two lakes and a bridge on the 27-acre compound of the magnificent monument.

A total of 30 people, including one representative each from Tripura, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal and university students took part in Saturday’s ‘Heritage Walk’.

The Heritage Walk will be hosted every Saturday afternoon from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm, a Raj Bhavan official said.

“For the first few weeks, only invitees will be allowed to enter the Raj Bhavan. Later, they will have to book online from the Raj Bhavan website. Around 30 to 35 people can participate in each Heritage Walk,” he added.

Earlier in the day, the Raj Bhavan hosted the NCC peace walk and Governor’s Cycle Warriors.

Built between 1799 and 1803 when Marquis Wellesley was the Governor General, the Raj Bhavan was designed on the lines of Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, the ancestral house of Lord Curzon who later lived here as the Viceroy and the Governor General 100 years after Wellesley.