Kolkata Gate

Mumbai has its Gateway of India and Delhi India Gate. Now, Mamata Banerjee — who wants to develop the City of Joy into another London — feels the first step towards that is to create something like a ‘Kolkata Gate’. “Every city has an iconic landmark. Kolkata should also have one. Please ensure that a Kolkata Gate comes up in the city,” Mamata had directed newly-elected mayor Sovan Chatterjee a fortnight ago. This is not the first time that such a structure has been planned. In 2002, then Kolkata mayor Subrata Mukherjee had come up with a similar idea. The iconic landmark was to be a 200-ft steel structure with a glass enclosure on top. The estimated cost of the project was Rs 10 crore and it was to be built on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass. The glass enclosure would have given visitors an aerial view of the city. A major business house from the city had even agreed to maintain the ambitious structure. But then, why didn’t the project see the light of day? Mukherjee, when contacted, said there were a number of issues that prevented him from making much progress. Will the project continue to remain a pipe dream? The present mayor said he is thinking about it. “We are certainly looking into this seriously. There is so much that needs to be done and we have just taken over,” said Chatterjee. While there are many who believe that Kolkata — which also serves as a gateway to the northeast — deserves a makeover and a new iconic landmark, there are some who feel that the city can already be easily identified through structures like Victoria Memorial and Rabindra Setu. Those close to Mamata, however, say the railway minister is keen to give the city a new look. “The landmark will have to be something that signifies the development of Kolkata into a vibrant city. Both Victoria Memorial and Rabindra Setu are ‘colonial structures’, which the city should no longer rely on,” one of them said.