By IANS,
Kolkata : Writer’s Building – the seat of the West Bengal government – will cool down by the end of 2009 after installing a central air-conditioning system.
“Till date only 15 percent of Writer’s Building has air-conditioners. Every year, the excluded 40 departments with a 75,000-workforce have to beat the summer heat with age-old ceiling fans and khaskhas curtains. Now we will have a fully air-conditioned building by the end of next year,” Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Kshiti Goswami, who is in charge of the project, told IANS Wednesday.
“We are spending Rs.100 million on this 18-month project,” he said.
PWD engineers said the air-conditioning system would cut the electricity bill by 40 percent. The government rolls out about Rs. 40,000 ever day only on air-conditioners installed in the VIP rooms at Writer’s Building.
Sources at the British-era office said the central air-conditioner will run on water instead of gas and will not affect the ozone layer. Water for the system will be brought from Laldighi – a nearby pond.