30-km Contai-Digha marine drive after CM's direction

Kolkata: After being prodded by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the East Midnapore district administration has taken initiatives to begin the construction of three marine bridges which Banerjee had proposed around four

years ago.

During her recent administrative meeting in the district, the Chief Minister expressed her dissatisfaction as the construction works of the three bridges did not begin. She instructed the district administration to start the project as soon as possible.

A sketch has already been chalked out to set up a 30 km long marine drive from Contai to Digha. Once the bridges are constructed, Digha would be connected with other beach towns like Mandarmani, Tajpur and Sankarpur through a marine drive similar to that

of Mumbai.

There will be a shorter route from Contai to Digha reducing the distance by 5 km, once the marine bridges are set up in the district. After starting from Contai, the road will move through Mandarmani, Tajpur, Sankarpur and

end in Digha.

The whole idea of marine drive was conceptualised by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had given a facelift to Digha. After coming to power, her government had taken up beautification drives along the sea beach in Digha. The number of tourist footfall has considerably gone up.

It was learnt that the bridges would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 130 crore.

Mackintosh Burn Limited has been assigned to execute the project, while the Public Works Department (PWD) will supervise the overall works of the construction bridges.

During her recent meeting in the district on December 6, the Chief Minister pulled up the district and the PWD officials for the delay in

the process.

Banerjee advised the Public Works Department (PWD) to start all the three projects simultaneously. She instructed the government officials to expedite the project. The project is expected to be completed within one year.

The district administrative officials believe that once the Marine drive, which will come up within the next one year, will attract a large number of tourists not only from the state but also from other districts as well.

It may be mentioned that Banerjee during her last meeting in the district announced that state government would construct a Jagannath temple near Jagannath Ghat in Digha sim ilar to Puri temple.