Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s promise to turn ‘Kolkata into London’ may have taken one more step with the contract of the Calcutta Eye – a 100-meter tall wheel to view Kolkata from the sky – being awarded to a UK-based company. The company was awarded the contract on Wednesday after it won the bid.

On the occasion of the declaration of the awarding of the tender, Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said that ‘the project will probably be complete within 18 months after the work begins’. “It is expected to be completed in two years.”

But experts on the heritage structures of the city are sceptical about the Rs. 300-crore project. They feel the ‘Calcutta Eye’ will not enhance the city’s ‘cultural prestige’. The Calcutta Eye is a giant wheel with 36 air-conditioned capsules. It will rotate slowly and tourists boarding any of the comfortable capsules will be able to view the city from a height of roughly 100 meters. However, the heritage conservationists are disappointed with the project.

When contacted, G.M. Kapur, State convener of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), an NGO that works for the conservation of the country’s heritage, told The Hindu that he has ‘doubts’ about the prospects of the Calcutta Eye turning into a major tourist attraction of Kolkata.

As for the Ferris wheel (a steel structure consisting of an upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying compartments) giving tourists a bird’s eye view of the city, Mr. Kapur wondered “whether the view would turn out to be an eyesore rather than a visual pleasure considering the unplanned concrete jungle that Kolkata is.”

Experts feel that it is ‘virtually impossible’ to enjoy Kolkata from a height of 100 meters owing to the thick smog that covers the ‘City of Joy’. Mr. Kapur also said that ‘instead of copying the icon of another city of a foreign country (London Eye in the United Kingdom), the State government should have focused on something unique that suits the culture of the city’.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Other States / by Staff  Reporter / Kolkata – May 23rd, 2014