#noapara

  সুমিত বৈদ্য: দীপাবলির আলোর রোশনাই মিলিয়ে যেতে না যেতেই উৎসব মুখর কলকাতা-সহ সারা বাংলা ছটপুজোয় মেতে উঠেছে। রবীন্দ্র সরোবরের ঘটনা বাদ দিলে মোটামুটি সারা বাংলা জুড়ে এই উৎসব উপলক্ষে মানুষের ঢল নেমেছে রাস্তায়, পুণ্যার্থীদের ভিড় গঙ্গার ঘাটে ঘাটে। ছট মানে ছট মাইয়া। সূর্যের আর এক নাম। মূলত বিহারিরাই করে থাকেন এই পুজো। পুজোর নিয়ম মেনে মহিলারা কুমড়োর সব্জি দিয়ে ভাত খেয়ে ১২ ঘণ্টা উপবাস থাকেন। তারপর আবার খেয়ে ৩৬ ঘণ্টা উপবাস করে নদীতে বা পুকুরে গিয়ে বুক পর্যন্ত জলে দাঁড়িয়ে সূর্য দেবতার কাছে নিজেদের মনোবাসনা জানান। এখন কিন্তু এই ছটপুজো বিহারিদের মধ্যেই সীমাবদ্ধ নয়। সারা দেশে ছড়িয়ে পড়েছে। নোয়াপাড়া, ইছাপুরেও বেশ আড়ম্বরে শোভাযাত্রা সহকারে মানুষ এসেছেন পুজো দিতে। লক্ষ লক্ষ মানুষের সমাগম গঙ্গা তীর এক মহাতীর্থের রূপ নিয়েছে।

By the end of March 2013, Metro Railway will have commissioned its 24th and largest station at Noapara. This station, nearly 2.6km north of Dum Dum, will be a modern building and have four platforms. It will not only connect people living around Sinthi to the network, but will become the hub for the Metro’s expansion plans towards the northern suburbs. “Work has already started to lay the tracks. For this, we have been forced to reduce the frequency of existing trains. The track-laying will be completed by December 2, after which normal schedule will resume. The new station will be slightly elevated, about eight metres from the ground level, as trains will take an upward route towards the airport and Dakshineswar after leaving Dum Dum in the future,” said Protyush Ghosh, DGM(G), Metro Railway. Apart from six escalators and the same number of stairs, Ghosh added that there will be three elevators for the benefit of people with physical disabilities. The station will have an island platform (with platforms at either side) and two side ones. The dimensions of each platform will be 180m x 5.5m which is larger than the existing ones. While trains between Kavi Subhas and Noapara will use the island platform, the side ones will be used for those moving between Kavi Subhas and Barrackpore (via Dakshineswar). There will be two more tracks to move trains to the sheds. “At a later stage, this station will become the nerve centre of the entire network. The Metro network is expanding towards the north and once all the projects are completed, Noapara will be the central point. Trains from there will move to the south towards Kavi Subhas. Towards the north, trains from Noapara will move towards two separate directions. While some will move towards the northwest and go to Dakshineswar before proceeding towards Barrackpore, others will go towards the northeast, cross the Bagjola canal and reach the Airport before moving towards Barasat,” Ghosh said. According to him, the station will be commissioned well before completion of the stretches to Barasat and Barrackpore to facilitate movement of people living beyond Chiriamore on BT Road. Chiriamore is the point that connects BT Road to the Dum Dum station. When the new station comes up, residents around Sinthi and up to Bonhooghly will be benefited. At present, there are many people from as far as Dunlop who travel by road up to Dum Dum to avail of the Metro. They will no longer have to do so when the new station comes into existence. However, this may also add to the number of commuters handled by Metro daily. As it is, the number of commuters is likely to go up from next week with the New Garia Halt – an interface between the Eastern Railway’s south suburban section and Metro — being thrown open on Monday. The track-laying work at Noapara Metro station, about 2.6km north of Dum Dum, is likely to get over by December 2