Kolkata: The civic body is likely to open the Kalighat skywalk on Janmasthami, which falls on Aug 26. CM Mamata Banerjee, who visited the Kalighat temple on Saturday night with her family and mayor Firhad Hakim to offer prayers, told reporters, “The Kalighat skywalk is likely to be completed in Aug.” She also addressed the issue of hawker rehabilitation in the Kalighat temple complex, stating that this will be done once the work for the skywalk is complete.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) had in Dec 2023 set a March 2024 deadline for the skywalk project. But since it missed several deadlines since 2021, KMC started to monitor its progress on a weekly basis.
Referring to the Kalighat temple renovation project, Banerjee said the state will spend Rs 200 crore. She also mentioned that Mukesh Ambani had helped restore the golden spirals atop the temple.
According to sources, the CM stressed the need for early completion of the skywalk.
“Prodded by CM, the KMC engineering department had considered a May deadline. But this was not feasible due to the ongoing poll process. A July deadline was also not feasible considering the volume of work left. But, after talking to the CM, the mayor has instructed us to wrap up by Aug end,” an official said.
According to KMC sources, the construction has reached the final stage. “By the end of this month, we will be able to finish the deck casting on the pillars. Then we will take up other necessary work, like installation of elevators and escalators. In the meantime, we will need to finish the flooring on the superstructure. We also need to restore and relay roads and pavements adjoining the temple complex that were damaged due to the skywalk construction,” said a KMC official.
Kali Temple Road, Sadananda Road and Gurupada Halder Road are among those stretches in the vicinity of the temple that KMC will reconstruct.
In Dec 2023, the state had approved the release of Rs 5.3 crore for the reconstruction of roads and pavements. The state has sanctioned Rs 82.6 crore for construction work relating to the skywalk in phases.