For the first time after the municipal elections, Congress veteran and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and Trinamool Congress chief and railway minister Mamata Banerjee shared the dais on Friday, announcing a much-needed initiative to beautify the Hooghly riverfront.
They also oversaw the signing of an MoU between Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT), Railways and Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
RITES, the railways’ multi-disciplinary consultancy organisation, will draw up a masterplan to beautify the riverfront. Banerjee, thanking the finance minister for his presence, said, “Pranab da will guide us.”
In a clear poll pitch, Banerjee said, “Bengal has hills, rivers, sea, jungle, but we haven’t been able to explore it yet… let us start with the river, Kolkata to Sagar, Kolkata to Farakka, Kolkata to Haldia.” She said the beautification would open up the tourism sector. Banerjee said the deep sea port at Sagar and the re-energising of the two ports at Kolkata and Haldia would improve the economy of the state.
For the river project, land is not an issue because both Railways and ports own a lot on both banks.
Picking up from Banerjee, Pranab Mukherjee said river-centric tourism is not the preserve of Venice alone. Giving a hint that his ministry wouldn’t object to further dredging subsidy for Haldia, he said: “It’s a rare river port and has a long channel of about 100 km… navigability must be maintained.”
Both ministers said they wanted the work finished within a time-frame but didn’t specify any dates.