KOLKATA - The Metro Railway will set up a 75-bed hospital here, to be named after celebrated film-maker Tapan Sinha, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee announced Saturday.

Banerjee also announced that stadium named after legendary film director Satyajit Ray will come up in the southern eastern fringes of the city at Behala.

“We’ve already sanctioned the project to set up a 75-bed hospital, named after Tapan Sinha, at Chanditala. We’ve our own land there. The hospital would come up shortly,” Banerjee said while flagging off Tollygunge-Garia bazaar metro expansion here.

She said: “I was requested to set up a hospital by the representatives from Tollygunge film fraternity. The fund has been earmarked and location is also ready.

“We also welcome private players to come forward and participate in this public private partnership (PPP) venture. If they can come the capacity of this hospital could be enhanced to 100-bed or 150-bed in future.”

She said the Eastern Railway (ER) had also decided to develop the Behala stadium into a world class sports complex.

“This stadium will be named after Oscar winning Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray,” she said.

She also declared that she had also given instruction to the Metro Railway authority to name the Maidan station after legendary footballer Gostho Pal.

Banerjee flagged off the much-awaited expansion of city’s Metro railway from Tollygunge to Garia bazaar Saturday. The Metro extension project between Tollygunge and Garia bazaar has added a 6-km stretch and four stations initially to the route in the southern fringes of the city.

With the expansion of the city’s metro railway, the first underground metro railway in the country, now the 22.5 km distance between Garia bazaar (the southern most metro station) and Dumdum (the last station located in the city’s extreme northern fringes) will be covered in just 41 minutes.

She also named the Tollygunge metro station after late Bengali matinee idol Uttam Kumar.