The West Bengal Tourism is promoting ‘Little Europe’ along the river Hooghly showcasing the settlement of European traders around its banks. To develop the idea further, the State Government has been making repeated representations to the Centre for a tourist circuit along the riverbanks including Ganga by connecting the rivers of the state.
With an estimated cost of Rs 680 crore, the project will be co-sponsored by World Bank & Union Roads and Waterways Dept. The State Transport Secretary recently had a meeting with representatives of World Bank and the Centre to give shape to this idea and have earmarked Katwa as one of the terminals of this project with Banaras, Allahabad, Gazipur and Sahebganj in other states.
The circuit will begin at Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh and end at Haldia, West Bengal. The 12 rivers of West Bengal identified for this project are Mahananda, Ajoy, Jalangi, Damodar, Dwarka, Bakreshwar, Dwarkeshwar, Shilaboti, Kumari, Ichhamoti, Sundarbans Waterways and DVC Canal. A team of experts will do a study of these rivers and ensure that the constitutional and legal identity of the State remains intact.