Elliot Park, opposite Tata Centre, that was inaugurated by chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Monday evening. Picture by Amit Datta

Go green was the call from the chief minister, at the inauguration of 90,000 sq m of parkland in the heart of the city on Monday evening.

Elliot Park, a joint venture of Calcutta Police and Tata Steel, sports a 1.5 km jogger?s park and a fountain that leaps high into the sky. Opposite Tata Centre, it will remain open for public use.

?Calcutta needs more trees and waterbodies,? said Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. ?We plan to build gardens from Grand Hotel to Brigade Parade Ground,? he added. The city has only six per cent of greenery, and the state 18 per cent, while the ideal green cover is 23 per cent, Bhattacharjee admitted.

In attendance were mayor Subrata Mukherjee, commissioner of police Sujoy Chakraborty and Tata Steel managing director B. Muthuraman.

Also present were actors Victor Banerjee, Tanusree Shankar, Moon Moon Sen and Sabyasachi Chakraborty, artist Suvaprasanna, ex-footballer Chuni Goswami and industrialist Harsh Neotia.

?After work got over for Metro Railway, this area remained hidden under garbage for almost a decade,? said commissioner Chakraborty. ?So we decided to renovate the area and work completed in one year.?

Various kinds of trees have been planted to attract birds while a band will play on holidays, Chakraborty informed. ?Please do maintain the park well,? was the plea to the public from Tata Steel?s Muthuraman.

The chief minister was all praises for the Tatas? ?interest in all-round development? of the state.

?Ratan Tata has conveyed to me that he is planning to set up an automobile factory in Midnapore, a power generating centre in the state and a cancer research centre in Calcutta,? Bhattacharjee said.