Chief minister Mamata Banerjee last Friday inaugurated the foundation stone of an Eiffel tower replica that would come up at Eco Tourism Park in a few years.

The foundation stone was unveiled at Nazrul Tirtha where she had gone to open a photography exhibition by Sabyasachi Chakraborty. Also present were the consul general of France Damien Syed and the deputy high commissioner of Bangaldesh Zokey Ahad. Actors Tota Roy Chowdhury, Arindam Ganguly, Kheyali Dastidar and Saswata Chatterjee were also there.

 “I am very happy that we are going to have an Eiffel Tower replica soon. I want to ensure that all attractions of the world like the Eiffel Tower and the London Eye Ferris wheel are set up in the city for residents to see,” Banerjee said after unveiling the stone.

A clock tower, which is a replica of London’s Big Ben, had been unveiled at the Lake Town-VIP Road crossing a few months ago, a 20 minute-drive away from Eco Park. 

While the real Eiffel Tower in Paris is 324m high, the replica would be 55m tall, as high as an 18-storey building. “We could have aimed for 324m but since Eco Park is close to the airport the flight path for aircraft needs to be kept clear,” said Debashis Sen, chairman cum managing director of the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) that is in charge of the park. 

The tower will have two tiers for landing. There would be two lifts to ferry visitors up. The lower tier, at a height of 25m, would be an air-conditioned viewing gallery but no decision has been taken for the higher tier yet. “The base of the structure will be spread over 650sq-ft and we shall have souvenir shops and the like there,” added Sen. A cafe might be built on the viewing gallery floor. “We are building the tower as a tribute to the French people who witnessed a dastardly terror attack on their soil recently,” Sen said. 

The tower will be built out of around 300 tonnes of steel and take three to four years to complete. The site of construction is yet to be chosen but it will come up close to the section that will house replicas of the new Seven Wonders of the World. 

Work has started on the wonders’ replicas — the Taj Mahal, Christ the Redeemer of Brazil, Chichen Itza of Mexico, the Great Wall of China, Petra of Jordan, Machu Picchu of Peru and the Colosseum in Rome.

At Nazrul Tirtha the chief minister also opened a wildlife photography exhibition featuring the works of actor Sabyasachi Chakraborty and other wildlife photographers.

“The proceedings from the sale of the photographs will go towards helping forest guards who risk their lives while protecting the flora and fauna of our state,” Banerjee said.

The exhibition was organised by Miles Tourism and showcased more than 30 photographs shot in forests all over the world. 

“We had been trying to hold such an exhibition for a long time. We will donate the proceedings to the forest guards who are the real heroes who protect our wildlife,” said Chakraborty.