December 19, 2018
Insurance cover upto Rs 5 lakh for Gangasagar pilgrims: Mamata Banerjee
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held a high-level meeting with her Cabinet colleagues at Nabanna on December 18,2018, taking stock of the overall arrangements made by various departments ahead of the Ganga Sagar Mela.
During the meeting, the CM instructed other ministers to ensure that the pilgrims do not face any difficulties while visiting the place. She also took stock of the dredging work in Muriganga river, that is already being carried out by the state Irrigation and Waterways department.
The state government has announced to provide insurance cover upto Rs 5 lakh to pilgrims visiting the place during Ganga Sagar Mela, in case of any untoward incident or disaster. The Chief Minister has also instructed some of her senior cabinet colleagues to remain stationed at various points in order to supervise various processes during the mela.
There will be adequate arrangement of extra buses to ferry the pilgrims. The pilgrims have no other option except using vessels to reach their destination. Unlike other pilgrimages, Ganga Sagar is not connected through railway or road, as a result of which it often becomes difficult to ferry large number of pilgrims to Sagar Island, the CM stated.
She also reminded that despite repeated pleas from the Bengal government to give Ganga Sagar Mela a status like Kumbha, the Centre has declined its proposal. The Chief Minister is expected to visit Ganga Sagar on December 26. On the next day she will visit the temple there and hold a meeting with the district administrative officials on December 28, before returning to the city.
