The Bengal government has to act to break the deadlock in ongoing Metro projects in Calcutta, Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Vaishnaw listed the status of the projects in a written reply to a question from Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee, who sought to know the status of the projects.
A clearance from Kolkata Police — for a traffic block needed to lift concrete piers to bridge a 366m gap in the Metro viaduct at the Chingrighata intersection — is still pending, Vaishnaw said.
The gap is the vital missing link in the New Garia-Airport Metro link or the Orange Line, which is functional between New Garia and Beleghata.
“The diversion road, as desired by Kolkata traffic police, has already been constructed in February 2025. Since then, several meetings have been held with various state government agencies and Kolkata police officials for NOC. The NOC is still awaited even after about 10 months,” Vaishnaw told the Parliament.
A senior official of Kolkata Police told this newspaper: “The alternate road has not been formally handed over to us. Neither the KMDA nor the KMC has received the fitness certificate for the road.”
A steel bridge has been built by the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), the implementing agency of the New Garia-Airport metro project, on the Science City-bound flank of EM Bypass, near the Metropolitan crossing, to improve the traffic flow on the major arterial road. The fitness certificate for the bridge is also pending, the officer said.
A breakthrough at Chingrighata was apparently achieved this September, following a nudge from Calcutta High Court, where a division bench heard a PIL seeking expedited construction of the Orange Line.
The traffic block was supposed to have been enforced on the second and third weekends of November; however, it never came, said a Metro official.
The matter came up for hearing at the division bench of Justice Sujoy Paul, the acting chief justice, and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, on Wednesday.
“The police have failed in their commitment to the court. The bench sought to know the reason for the delay in giving the NOC and asked the state advocate general to be present on the next date of hearing, scheduled on Monday,” Pradyumna Sinha, the counsel for the petitioner, told Metro.
Purple Line
The Joka-Esplanade corridor is now functional between Joka and Majerhat.
The proposed Kidderpore Metro station had finally received clearance from
the state government, the railway minister acknowledged in his reply. But the construction of the Esplanade station is stalled because more than 500 traders at the Maidan Market have not shifted to an alternate location arranged by the RVNL.
“Temporary shifting of unauthorised 528 Shops at B.C. Roy Market on Defence land is required... The state government has been requested to facilitate the shifting. Regular follow-up with the state PWD is also being done. The issue is pending for more than 3.5 years,” the railway minister said.
Kishore Manglani, general secretary of the Dr BC Roy Stall Holders’ Association, told this newspaper: “We are not against development. But there are pressing issues that need resolution before the traders move. They involve lives and livelihoods”.
Many current traders in the market, owned by the KMDA, do not have ownership or allotment documents. The list of legitimate owners has not been updated in years, said traders.
“The proposed shift is temporary. The Maidan Market will eventually be rebuilt
atop the new Esplanade station,” said an official of the RVNL.
Yellow Line
The Noapara-Barasat corridor is now functional between Noapara and Jai Hind Bimanbandar (airport). The 7.5km stretch between New Barrackpore and Barasat is stuck in land acquisitions and encroachments, the minister said.
“The Bengal government is yet to resolve the matter,” he said.
Pink Line
“Pending utility shifting” under BT Road has stalled the construction of the upcoming Baranagar-Barrackpore Metro or the Pink Line, the minister said.