Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, following the local culture, christened nine vessels after nine rivers. She will also be inaugurating the Vehicle Location Tracking Command and Control Centre as well as the newly developed multi-level car parking named ‘Somponno’ in Alipore on Monday.
State transport department has plans on launching 22 new non-polluting vessels with 80 to 100-seat capacity across ghats. Out of these 22 vessels, nine have arrived. They have been named MV Saraswati, MV Sangeet, MV Atreyei, MV Rangeet, MV Sangi, MV Shilaboti, MV Chakachaki, MV Biyas and MV Mohonchura.
Nine state-of-the-art jetties are also being constructed. Jetties, including Gourhati, Rashmoni Ghat, Gadiara, Outram Ghat, Bansberia and Devitala are being rebuilt with facilities like lightning, smart gates and eco-toilets.
With the launch of new vessels, the transport department believes that increasing people’s dependence on water transport will help in the reduction of vehicles on the road and subsequently result in a decrease in pollution levels. The eco-friendly vessels will be launched with financial help from the World Bank.
The new vessels will ply between ghats such as Tribeni in Hooghly and Nurpur in the North 24-Parganas. According to a news agency report, one crore seventy lakh rupees was spent on each vessel. It is reported that at least Rs 200 crore was spent in this sector.
Meanwhile, the state Transport department had earlier announced that Vehicle Location Tracking Devices (VLTD) will be made mandatory in all commercial vehicles to ensure passenger safety.
Banerjee, in the presence of Mayor Firhad Hakim and state Transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty, will be inaugurating the Vehicle Location Tracking Command and Control Centre as well as the newly developed multi-level car parking ‘Somponno’ in Alipore on Monday.
Apart from this, an administrative approval amounting to Rs 3,63,720 has been given for the installation of street lights from Jamuna Bridge to Hili ICP gate under Hili PS in district Dakshin Dinajpur. The district magistrate of Dakshin Dinajpur will be the DDO and execute the project.
The expenditure for the scheme will be met from the budget provision in the financial year 2022-2023.