Durga Puja 2022: Kolkata Metro to run additional trains on weekends for shoppers

Kolkata, Sep 01: After two years of pandemic-related restrictions, the Kolkata Metro Railway is gearing up to make travel easier for Durga Puja shoppers, increasing the number of services on weekends in September, an official said here on Wednesday.

The Kolkata Metro will run 282 services on Saturdays instead of 234 and 164 services on Sundays, up from 130, he said.

Anticipating a huge rush of shoppers before Durga Puja in the first week of October, the Metro Railway will run special services on weekends from September 3 to 25 in the north-south corridor, the official said.

Durga Puja in Kolkata was recently included to the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the Intergovernmental Committee of the 2003 Convention on Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. During its 16th session, which was held in Paris, France, it was given the honour.

The Committee has praised Durga Puja for its efforts to include women and persons from marginalised groups in their engagement in protecting the element. "We are gathered here to commemorate the inclusion of Durga Puja in UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which is the 14th ICH element to have been inscribed on the list," said Lily Pandeya, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture.