Kalighat temple reopening, second dose rollout for children and other stories from Kolkata

Stories from the City of Joy from our Bengal correspondent Pranab Mondal.
Kalighat temple.
Kalighat temple.

Civic body plan for people living in unsafe buildings
The city municipal corporation (KMC) has proposed an amendment so that people living in unsafe buildings can be evacuated and the structures can be demolished. Mayor Firhad Hakim said he had spoken to the municipal affairs department to propose an amendment to the KMC Act to implement the idea. “Dangerous buildings are a real cause of worry. We put up boards declaring a building dangerous but people keep living there. Often portions of such buildings collapse resulting injuries and casualties,” said the mayor. Each year, many such buildings cave in during the monsoon.

Flyover to be shut to traffic for load test
The Kidderpore flyover, which connects the racecourse to Garden Reach, will remain shut from Friday to facilitate a load test which will assess its stability The 550-m long flyover, opened in 2007, will remain shut to traffic till 5 am on February 1. All vehicles headed for Garden Reach along the flyover is being directed down the old Kidderpore steel bridge, Circular Garden Reach Road and Kidderpore crossing. ‘’It has been nearly 15 years since the flyover was built. We need to assess its load-bearing capacity,’’ said an official of Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC), the custodian of the flyover. Engineers said they would conduct two types of tests — horizontal pressure of wind that tries to push the bridge sideways and measure the oscillation of the structure under the pressure of the vertical wind pressure.

Kalighat temple reopened to devotees
The sanctum sanctorum of the Kalighat temple, which remained shut for a fortnight as a precaution against Covid, was opened to devotees on Thursday. It was kept closed on January 1, the day thousands of devotees usually turn up. As Covid numbers rose, the temple authorities decided not to allow devotees inside the sanctum sanctorum from January 11. Visitors were allowed till the courtyard of the temple. ‘’If there is a renewed rise in the infection numbers, the sanctum sanctorum will be shut to devotees again,’’ said a member of the Kalighat temple committee.

2nd dose rollout for govt school students in Feb
The drive to administer second dose of Covaxin to students of government and aided schools will begin in February so that Madhyamik and Higher Secondary examinees are fully vaccinated by the time their exams start in March and April respectively. The education authorities left it to the city corporation to facilitate vaccination of the 15-18 age group (student of classes IX to XII) in Kolkata from early January. Civic bodies across the state have been assigned with responsibility of vaccinating school students. The respective boroughs of the civic body are allotting the dates for the second dose. The recipients will be called in small groups and split into slots of 25 each to rush.

Pranab Mondal
Our correspondent in West Bengal

pranabm@newindianexpress.com

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