Metro Railway on Monday said the girder launching work at Chingrighata crossing has been completed ahead of schedule, allowing normal traffic movement along the EM Bypass to resume earlier than planned.
The construction work was completed successfully at 5 am on Monday, according to a news release issued by Amar Metro. The traffic block imposed for the operation was also lifted at the same time, well before the original deadline.
"Girder launching work at Chingrighata has been successfully completed this morning at 5 am ahead of schedule with the active support of the Bengal government," a Metro Railway official told PTI.
Metro authorities said the operation was carried out over two successive weekends with extensive safety measures in place at the busy Chingrighata crossing. The work formed part of the ongoing Metro infrastructure expansion in the eastern parts of Kolkata.
Work for the construction of the 366-metre viaduct was stalled for more than a year over lack of permission from the previous Trinamool Congress government and the police.
Officials credited the smooth completion of the operation to close coordination between Metro Railway and the Bengal government. According to the authorities, active support from the state administration helped execute the work without any major disruption.
The temporary traffic restrictions along the EM Bypass had led to diversions and congestion in several parts of east Kolkata over the past two weekends, particularly during peak evening hours. Traffic personnel had been deployed at multiple intersections to manage vehicular movement during the block period.
With the girder launching work now complete, commuters using the EM Bypass and the Chingrighata connector are expected to see normal traffic flow restored from Monday onwards.
Metro Railway has been carrying out a series of construction and infrastructure projects across Kolkata as part of its network expansion and operational upgrades.
Chingrighata remains a crucial transit point linking Salt Lake, the EM Bypass and the eastern fringes of the city with the office hubs of Sector V and New Town.
The Supreme Court had, on March 23, pulled up the West Bengal government for "creating roadblocks" in the ongoing construction of the Kolkata Metro rail project corridor and asked it not to politicise a developmental issue which is beneficial for the common man.
The Calcutta High Court had, on December 23, expressed concern at the delay in the completion of the project owing to the impasse over traffic block permission by the police, and directed that the work be completed by February 15, 2026.
The petitioners in a PIL claimed that though work for the metro line connecting Kavi Subhash with Sector V has mostly been completed, the impasse over construction at the Chingrighata Crossing across the EM bypass has been pending for a long time.