The Metro Orange Line will reach Sector V by the end of this year if the clearance for lifting concrete decks at Chingrighata is granted by the police this month, railway officials said.
“Once the gap at Chingrighata is plugged, the executing agency is expected to take another seven to eight months to make the line ready for commercial services between Beleghata and Salt
Lake Sector V,” said a Metro official.
A 366m gap in the Metro viaduct at Chingrighata is the last hurdle in the Beleghata-Sector V stretch.
Construction of the remaining stretch is underway in full swing, said an official of Railway Vikas Nigam Limited, the executing agency for the Orange Line, which aims to link Kavi Subhash (New Garia). The corridor is functional between New Garia and Beleghata. Chingrighata is the next station.
The agency needs police permission to lift concrete slabs to bridge the gap at Chingrighata. Traffic blocks must be enforced for over two consecutive weekends for the work.
The police nod has been pending for months, despite multiple prods from Calcutta High Court. Construction at Chingrighata has remained stalled for over a year.
The Supreme Court on Monday rebuked the Bengal government for the long-stalled Metro construction at Chingrighata as a “dereliction of constitutional duties”
and an attempt to politicise a project that would benefit people.
The bench rejected the state’s plea that clearing the project now would violate the model code of conduct, apart from triggering traffic roadblocks at one of the city’s busiest intersections.
The stalemate at Chingrighata remains the key hurdle, but it is not the only missing link in the upcoming New Garia-Airport Metro corridor (Orange Line).
The Orange Line viaduct has at least four more gaps between Chingrighata and the airport. Concrete segments need lifting at most of these locations.
“There are gaps that need to be bridged. But there is a complete stalemate only at Chingrighata. At other locations, there is some movement. We are finding ways to do the job without depending on traffic blocks,” said an official in the RVNL.
Beyond Chingrighata, the first gap in the viaduct
is just before the Technopolis (Nabadiganta) station. A portion of the station itself is also incomplete because permission for a traffic block is pending.
Technopolis, the station after the IT Centre, will serve passengers headed to Sector V, where the Orange Line meets the East-West Metro or the Green Line.
The third gap lies between Nabadiganta and Nazrul Tirtha stations. There are two discontinuities in this stretch: One just after Nabadiganta station and the other just before Nazrul Tirtha. The fourth gap in the viaduct is between the Chinar Park crossing and VIP Road.
Construction of the Chinar Park station is also incomplete.