On the day of Rathyatra, New Town will get another space for community activities. The space under the Kestopur flyover, near Balaka Abasan, will now be used as community zone 2. The first event, fittingly a mela, will be held there from Friday.
Titled Nagar Mela, the fair will be a three-day affair where simple snacks from rural Bengal will be on offer as well as handicraft made of bamboo and jute.
“Women from the districts will fry papad, a rath-er mela staple, of various types. There will be stalls selling luchi, ghughni, mangsher ghughni, alur dam, fried fish, fried vadas of various pulses. Varieties of egg preparations will be sold as will bhapa, chitai and other kinds of pithe,” said Sonali Kar, from Town Event Management, which is organising the fair.
A large chariot will welcome visitors while a small chariot will be there for children to pull.
The six-lane 600m long flyover has been constructed by the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) across the Kestopur canal and connects the south-east extension of the Major Arterial Road in New Town with the Ring Road in Mahisbathan, behind Sector V. The space under the flyover is also being developed by Hidco. It is already illuminated and will soon be painted as well. Nagar Mela will be on from 3pm to 9pm.
The demarcation of the space as Community Zone 2 is in line with Community Zone, which uses the space under the Axis Mall elevated carriageway in Action Area 1. The brightly lit and eye-catchingly painted meeting place has cement stools and children’s play equipment. A sitting area there, with chess boards as table tops surrounded by four seats, has people hanging out all day. Community Zone was inaugurated on June 6, 2022 and now hosts Sonajhurir Haat, a pop-up market of rural artisans in the weekends on the other side of the motorable road bifurcating the zone.
Hidco sources refused to connect the opening of Community zone 2 with the state government’s recent decision to clear open areas under flyovers and bridges of settlements and fence them off to prevent encroachment. Permanent shops and settlements make it impossible to conduct a thorough inspection of the elevated structures from below, as they block access to critical points of the structure, it has been noted. A fire had broken out under the Durgapur bridge in New Alipore on December 21 and damaged the concrete structure.
The space under the Kestopur flyover remains free of encroachments and this move will ensure that it continues to remain so, said an official source. It has also been fenced off with iron grille. The fair is a pilot project, sources said.