5-yr-old Eco Urban Village spreads festive joy with cakes & coffee
Kolkata: Eco Urban Village (EUV) in New Town that has already emerged as one of the most sought-after picnic places of Kolkata and a favourite destination of nature lovers, bird watchers and anglers recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. The place was illuminated and decorated nicely during the festival of Christmas, local children sung Christmas songs, cake was cut, a Christmas Tree was decked up and all who were assembled were invited to a cup of hot coffee and snacks .
The New Town Kolkata Development Authority has very recently unveiled the third picnic spot cum ceremony ground on 3 acres of land . The EUV that started its journey from December 24, 2014 had seen improvements every now and then to cater to its growing popularity.
"Picnics were not permitted in Eco Park but there was a demand for this. A green village with a character distinctly different from the Eco Park was our design concept for EUV. Green lawn, natural water-body, bamboo day centres with straw roofing with a little green courtyand and a pathway are what we started with. Now we have, a circular 360 degrees open Akhra where folk artistes can perform. Two exhibition spaces inspired by Kalobari of Uttarayan, Santinikaten has been built, " a senior NKDA official said.
Artist Rupchand Kundu, who stays nearby, had proposed the inclusion of Santiniketan feature.
To reach the Eco Urban Village on has to take a right turn from the main road from the Salt Lake side at Pyancha More. A prominent road gantry signage has been put up. A five minutes' drive and one reaches the entrance gate and the parking area. There are four day cottages, a central circular open stage There are two kitchen sheds too. The peak season is November to February and weekends are especially rushed and often booked months in advance. Last season (Nov 2018-Feb 2019), there were 126 picnics (Rs 5,000 for each picnic site).The cottages were booked for 85 days (Rs 1,000 per day per cottage). The total revenue mobilised in this period last season was Rs 6.08 lakhs. One, however, cannot stay overnight in the cottages: the EUV closes in the evening.
