CM to visit Gangasagar today to review preparations for fair

Gangasagar: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be reaching Gangasagar on Wednesday afternoon to review the preparations for the fair that will be held from January 8 to 17 this year.

Banerjee is scheduled to arrive at the rejuvenated permanent helipad adjacent to Nimpith Ramkrishna Mission in the afternoon. From there, she is scheduled to inaugurate three newly developed helipads there and will also inaugurate a bridge in Kakdwip block under the State Sunderban Affairs department.

Banerjee will then visit the Bharat Sevashram Sangha and then offer Puja at the Kapil Muni temple and will also speak with the Mahanta of the temple.

From the temple campus, she will inaugurate the lighting arrangements for the fair, the Banglar Mandir and will also unveil a conference room facility developed by the Gangasagar Bakkhali Development Authority inside the campus of the Kapil Muni temple.

Sunderban Affairs minister Bankim Chandra Hazra, District Magistrate and Police Superintendent of Sunderban police district and other concerned senior officials of the state government will be accompanying Banerjee during her tour.

The Chief Minister will be staying back at a bungalow of the Public Health and Engineering department on Wednesday night. She is scheduled to leave for Kolkata on Thursday.

Though no administrative meeting is scheduled during her visit, she will take stock of the infrastructure development as well as the security arrangements during her tour.

Preparations are on in full swing for the fair that includes the construction of temporary structures for the lodging of pilgrims, the finishing touches for illumination of the fair compound, the repair of the embankments using nylon net, geo bags etc.

The campaign for discarding the use of plastic in and around the Kapil Muni temple compound was also continuing with full vigour.

The annual mela on Sagar Island, one of the biggest religious events of the country, attracts lakhs of people who take a dip at the confluence of the River Ganga and Bay of Bengal on Makar Sankranti and offer prayers at the Kapil Muni temple.

Banerjee has already urged the authorities of Eastern Railways to increase the frequency of trains to Namkhana during the event and announced that around 2,250 government buses and 500 private buses will be in service for the pilgrims.

There will be four barges, 32 vessels and 100 launch services for the transportation of the pilgrims to the mela venue. There will be adequate measures for preventing untoward incidents like stampedes with 1,150 CCTV cameras installed at the premises. There will be one air ambulance, four water ambulances and 100 ambulances. Beds will be reserved for the pilgrims at nearby hospitals in Diamond Harbour, Sagar, Kakdwip and other health centres in case they fall sick. The medical facilities will be in place from January 9.