New circuit house to come up in Salt Lake

Incessant drizzling with intermittent lightning, a building set in a deep jungle and an unmistakable stench of mystery! Bloodshed, crime and more is engulfing the entire place when enters Pradosh C Mitter or lovingly known as Feluda with his hawk's eye to solve the long-standing mystery.

Well, at least this is what any average Bengali thinks of when the words 'government circuit house' appear before them, courtesy Satyajit Ray and his books and flicks on the adventures of Bengal's favourite detective Feluda and his company.

Trying to sniff mystery already? Well, sorry to mar your enthusiasm but the state government is coming up with a new circuit house in Salt Lake, not to house mysteries though but to address the issue of accommodation.

The state Public Works Department (PWD) has taken up the project to construct the circuit house. According to an official of the state PWD, the land in Salt Lake has already been identified and the plan is being prepared.

The step to construct the circuit house has been taken to increase facilities of accommodation near Kolkata. Senior government officials from districts and other states put up in the circuit houses. At present, there are two circuit houses in the city. One is at Golpark and the another one is on Hungerford Street. Thus, with setting up of the circuit house at Salt Lake there will no more be problems in accommodating senior officials from other states near Kolkata. Britishers had constructed circuit houses in the districts to create a proper space for accommodation of divisional commissioners when they visited the districts for inspection.

During the Left Front regime, accommodation of government officials had come up as a major problem. Instead of addressing the issue, the then government used to accommodate government officials from other states in hotels.

Now, the state government has taken up the step to construct circuit houses at required places so that the officials from other states can be put up there where they can enjoy five-star facilities instead of spending a huge amount of money for their accommodation in hotels.

The state PWD is also constructing a circuit house in Durgapur and the work there has already started. Steps have been taken to ensure timely completion of the construction of the circuit house, the official said adding: "Often senior officials from the city visit Durgapur to monitor the ongoing development work. But their accommodation had been a major problem. Thus, it was decided to construct a circuit house there."