Kolkata: After the swearing-in ceremony on Saturday, the first BJP chief minister of Bengal will make a symbolic trip to Writers’ Buildings, which has served as the seat of power for over 200 years, before heading to Vidhan Sabha, where he will operate from the CM’s chamber until the old secretariat building is ready.While the first floor of the Writers’ main block used to house the Prime Minister of undivided Bengal before Independence and the chief minister thereafter before Mamata Banerjee shifted the secretariat across the river to Nabanna in Oct 2013, the new CM, who will be chosen in a meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday, will temporarily assume office on the second floor of the main block in a room just above the former CM secretariat on the first floor.During the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya govt, the second-floor hall was partitioned into three rooms that housed fisheries minister Kiranmoy Nanda and the transport and information & cultural affairs secretary. Later, when Mamata Banerjee briefly functioned from the Writers’, Nanda’s room was allocated to Aroop Biswas, who was then the youth services and housing minister.With less than 36 hours to go, more than 200 labourers have been working round the clock in shifts since May 5 to get the CM’s Writers’ Buildings office ready, along with a conference room, by noon on Saturday.“The restoration and renovation of the Writers’ Buildings have been hanging in balance for over 10 years. One cannot do it in five days. What we are doing instead is creating a kind of film set or a puja pandal: make the chamber presentable for the CM’s symbolic visit. Partitions are being installed to create a CM’s chamber and an antechamber in addition to the CM’s secretariat. Another large room is being readied on the same floor,” said a contractor, engaged in the project.While installing a false ceiling may not be possible in such a short time, ACs and lights will be fitted by Friday. Furniture, including a secretary table and chairs, has also been ordered along with sofas and coffee tables to furnish the room for the day.After the visit is over, the furniture will be shipped out and partitions, ACs and lights dismantled so that the remaining work can be completed. “The room will be done up according to the CM’s preference thereafter,” a PWD official said.
