By IANS,
Kolkata: The West Bengal government has taken up a Rs.18 crore project for modernising and revamping the age-old Technicians Studio, where maestro Satyajit Ray shot some scenes of the iconic movie “Pather Panchali”, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here Friday.
“The Technicians Studio is in a very bad state. We have taken a decision to spend Rs.18 crore for its modernisation and renovation,” Banerjee told mediapersons at the state secretariat.
Describing it as a Durga Puja gift to the film fraternity, she said the government decided not to go for a public-private-partnership in carrying out the project as that would have been time consuming.
The state Public Works Department has been asked to implement the project.
The chief minister said the government would soon start work on developing a film city at Uttarpara in Hooghly district over a 100 acre plot given by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
Bengali matinee idol Prosenjit, who was sitting beside Banerjee, expressed happiness that the Technicians Studio would get a new avatar.
“A lot of history is associated with it. Satyajit Ray had started his ‘Pather Panchali’ there,” he said.