120m-tall observation tower, India’s loftiest, coming up in Howrah
Times of India | 3 March 2025
123 Howrah: India's tallest observatory, standing a staggering 120m, is nearing completion in Howrah city, and will open up to visitors in three-four months.
Situated in Howrah's Belilious Park, adjacent to the East-West Bypass in Howrah that connects Dumurjala and Kona Expressway and the Howrah Maidan, Panchdeep Minar is over 38m taller than Qutub Minar and more than twice as tall as the Biswa Bangla Gate in New Town, which tops off at 55m. Panchdeep Minar will also dwarf Shahid Minar on the Maidan, which is 48m tall.
Designed by IIEST Shibpur, the tower is developed by a private group and overseen by Howrah Municipal Corporation.
The observatory deck, situated at a height of 112m, has a floor area of 200sq m (over 2,000sq ft) and can accommodate 200 visitors at a time. The deck will feature four high-powered telescopes with a range of up to 20km, offering clear views of large parts of Kolkata, New Town, Salt Lake and the Kolkata airport, as well as parts of Hooghly and urban and rural Howrah.
A 150-seater, 200sq m revolving restaurant is situated below the top viewing deck, at a height of 104m. Below it is an equally large banquet, situated at 108m.
The tower has two more decks, one at a height of 50m and the other at 25m.
Two high-speed elevators, which travel at 3m per second — each with a capacity of 15 people — will ferry visitors to the decks, the restaurant and the banquet.
According to engineer Ram Ratan Chowdhary, director of Panchdeep Constructions, which built the tower, its foundation is 35m — more than 10 storeys deep — with 169 pilings, to make it earthquake-resistant. The diameter of the tower at the plinth level is 40m, while the top deck has a diameter of 22m. The diameter of the bottom shaft is 12m. Around 1,400 tonnes of steel has been used in its construction.
Sujay Chakraborty, who chairs Howrah Municipal Corporation's board of administration, said the tower would "elevate Howrah's status nationally".
The corporation's engineering department will maintain regular oversight. Chakraborty anticipates it becoming a significant attraction for visitors from Howrah, Kolkata and even from elsewhere in the country.
Arup Roy, Central Howrah's MLA and a state minister, in whose constituency the tower is located, said: "Its foundation stone was laid in 2015. At that time, the CM (Mamata Banerjee) had extended her best wishes. It will be an extraordinary landmark and an entertainment centre for Howrah and Bengal, attracting not only national but also international tourists."