Mamata likely to visit Gangasagar Mela venue in Jan
KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to visit Gangasagar to oversee the arrangements of the fair during the first week of January. Every year, Banerjee visits the venue ahead of the mega event to take stock of the arrangements on her own. According to Nabanna sources, it will not be an exception this year too. The fair will be held from January 8 to 17 in 2023.
Banerjee will also visit the Kapil Muni Ashram and offer her prayers during the tour. According to sources, if everything goes as per plan, Banerjee is likely to visit Gangasagar on January 4 and 5. Banerjee recently held a meeting at Nabanna Sabhaghar to take stock of the arrangements for the fair where she had said that she would visit Gangasagar at least for a day. The administration expects that the pilgrims' footfall this year will be around 30 lakh with significant improvement in the Covid situation in Bengal.
Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi has held a number of preparatory meetings in connection with arrangements of the Gangasagar Mela. State Public Works Department and Public Health Engineering minister Pulak Roy and state Irrigation minister Partha Bhowmick had recently visited the place to take stock of the preparedness there.
Banerjee has urged the authorities of Eastern Railways present during the meeting 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 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 in the Mela premises.
Banerjee instructed special emphasis on healthcare facilities at the nearby hospitals and arrangements for quick transportation of patients during medical emergencies. 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. Three helipads have been set up at Sagar.
