Transforming Kolkata

In the run-up to the 2011 West Bengal Assembly election, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had promised to transform Kolkata into London and Darjeeling into Switzerland. In a bid to fulfil that promise perhaps, her government constructed a replica of the Big Ben in New Town, a neighbourhood of Kolkata, earlier this year. Now Paris seems to be the second model city for Kolkata, with plans afoot for a scale model of the Eiffel Tower. A national newspaper quoted state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim confirming the plan. The replica of the Parisian landmark would be built to commemorate the victims of the November 13 terror attack in that city. One wonders if the erstwhile World Trade Centre twin towers of New York are on the list as well.