Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to make an official visit to this city on December 30 to preside over the 2nd National Ganga Council (NGC) in which West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has confirmed her participation.
The meeting is expected to be held at the Indian Navy base of Netaji Subhas Dock ( Kiddeprore) from where the Prime minister is expected to virtually flag off the Vande Bharat Express, first of its kind in West Bengal, to connect Kolkata and Siliguri in about eight hours.
It was not immediately known if the other members of the NGC like Bihar, Jharkhand, UP and Uttarakhand will take part in the meeting as the member states.
Being the president of the NGC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired its first meeting held in Kanpur in 2019. The Council has been given overall responsibility for superintendence of pollution prevention and rejuvenation of River Ganga Basin, including Ganga and its tributaries. The first meeting of the Council was aimed at reinforcing the importance of a ‘Ganga-centric’ approach in all departments of the concerned states as well as relevant Central Ministries.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee last week said that she will attend the programme.
“I have been invited to the programme. The Union minister rang me up. I will attend it, please confirm the same,” Banerjee said during a meeting at Nabanna.
According to sources, since the PM will chair the NGC meeting in which several central ministers and chief ministers are likely to attend.
Besides holding the NGC meeting the PM is expected to flag off the Vande Bharat Express and several other Metro Projects, which would link the city by criss-crossing.
Darjeeling MP Raju Bista recently had said that the train will connect the Sealdah station in Kolkata to the New Jalpaiguri station in the north Bengal city of Siliguri in about eight hours to cover around 560 kms. The super speed train will have only one stop at Malda for three minutes.
