Calcutta, April 10 :     Mysore Garden, the sprawling five-bigha land adjacent to the Keoratala crematorium in south Calcutta, where dreaded criminals like Swapan and Sridhar used to hide over the past 15 years, has been turned into a park by the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC). It will be opened to the public on Poila Baisakh. The renovation has cost the civic body Rs 34 lakh and is regarded as the costliest beautification programme so far undertaken by the CMC. 'A sum of Rs 10 lakh has been provided by Ashok Mitra from the MPs' local area development fund. The CMC has provided the rest,' said municipal commissioner Asim Barman. Apart from trees like the Weeping Deodar being planted in the park around a dancing fountain, the century-old temples of Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva have been renovated. They were salvaged from heaps of garbage dumped there. While the Vishnu temple was constructed by the Maharaja of Mysore, the Shiva temple was constructed by the Raja of Tripura. It is said that Swami Vivekananda had once rested in the Shiva temple while visiting Kalighat soon after his return to Calcutta from America. CMC will soon declare Mysore Garden as a heritage spot. Records of the CMC say that in December 1894, the then Maharaja of Mysore, Chamrejendra Wadiyar Bahadur, who had come to Calcutta to seek an audience with Viceroy Lord Elgin, died in the city of diptheria. His body was cremated at Keoratala and his sons built the temple there a few years later. It was constructed in the style of the 12th century Chenna Keshava Temple of Bellur, in Karnataka. 'The four-year-long beautification programme succeeded only because of the local people. They wanted Mysore Garden to be freed from the clutches of anti-socials and developed into something worthwhile,' said local councillor Mala Roy. A wall has been erected around Mysore Garden and murals have been painted on it by artist Pradip Pal of Kumartuli. While renovating the temple, the CMC discovered that a gold pitcher on top of the temple had been stolen. Moreover, the cutglass and bronze canopy over the Vishnu idol and most of the Italian marble used for the floor of the temple were missing. The CMC brought in expert masons from Murshidabad to restore the artwork on the temple walls. The park will be brightly illuminated, with dome-shaped sodium vapour lamps. Councillor Roy said an NGO will resume regular puja at the temples. Mysore Garden will be inaugurated on Poila Baisakh (April 14) by a group of handicapped children from a local school.