Mayer Bari to get a facelift

KOLKATA: Seven years ago, the former Trinamool Congress-run Kolkata Municipal Corporation civic board renovated Mayer Ghat (Bagbazar Ghat), included in the list of KMC heritage committee, on the banks of Hooghly. Now, the civic board has taken up renovation of Mayer Bari, Sarada Devi's house, and its surrounding areas at Bagbazar Street. Sarada Devi had stepped into the century-old building on May 23, 1909, and made it her abode till her demise on July 20, 1920.Though the Ramkrishna Mission renovated the structure included in the heritage list, the civic body wants to overhaul the building that attracts devotees, not only from different parts of India, but also from abroad.
Besides, the KMC health department has planned to renovate and beautify Kashi Mitra burning ghat adjoining Nimtollaghat in north Kolkata, where the last rites of Ramakrishna Paramhansa were performed in 1886. Anti-socials like extortionists have made it their haven. The KMC would spruce up the entire place and demolish unauthorized structures that have been erected on it in the past one decade. The memorial built beside the place where Paramhansa was cremated, would also be renovated and opened for visitors, said Atin Ghosh, member of mayor-in-council of the KMC health department, on Tuesday.
The Centre has sanctioned grants for restoration of historic buildings, including the residences of Sarada Devi and sister Nibedita, listed in the KMC heritage committee list as part of 150th birth centenary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda. A panel has been constituted with railway minister Mamata Banerjee on board.
However, one of the major challenges that might crop up in Mayer Bari renovation plan is the encroachments opposite it. "We have started discussion with the encroachers about our plans to relocate them to a four-storey building in the neighbourhood," Ghosh said on Tuesday.
The area needs to be cleared of illegal structures to allow widening of the road leading to the house. "We will arrange everything once the plot, which is now heavily encroached, comes to our possession," Ghosh said. He added that he had held talks with local Trinamool Congress MLA Tarak Banerjee and senior monks of Ramkrishna Mission on this issue and together they had taken up the matter with the local encroachers. " We hope there will be no problems in taking over the land adjacent to Mayer Bari and that the renovation would start in its due course of time."