By IANS,
Kolkata : West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Friday laid the foundation stone of the Rabindra Udyan as part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore at Rajarhat in the city’s northeastern outskirts.
“To celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, we decided to do something unique. So we decided to set up a garden that would also showcase the life and works of the great poet,” Bhattacharjee said.
The garden, slated to come up on five acres, will be completed in the next few months. The design of the garden has not yet been finalised. All the experts and the departments would be engaged and the unique garden with Rabindra research centre and exhibition will come up soon, said Bhattacharjee after the foundation stone-laying ceremony.
“As Rabindranath was a true lover of nature, we have decided to plant trees like mango, bokul, kadam, sal, simul which are frequently mentioned in his works. There will also be four flower gardens and a big water body within the main complex,” the chief minister added.
“Several flowers have featured in his poems and he had also mentioned ‘Bojra on a Jheel’ (boat on a water body) in his works. So we will create the Udyan in a way that it will reflect the poet’s love for nature,” Bhattacharjee added.
Apart from the garden, two centres – displaying the works and paintings of the Nobel laureate – will be set up. An archive will also be constructed to preserve the films based on Tagore’s works.
“However, our objective will be to develop it as a Rabindra Study Centre under the open skies. Several students from the rural areas are interested to know about the great poet and we will help them to know about his life, works and achievements in this Udyan”.
“We have decided to set up a dormitory (student house), where students coming from far-flung areas would be provided with shelter during their educational tour here,” Bhattacharjee said.
A cultural centre will also come up, but most of the area will be open with trees and flowers in large numbers.