July 26: Officials of the state government and the railways will meet on July 28 to discuss the proposed extension of the East-West Metro route to VIP Road in the east and Santragachhi in the west.

As part of the current plan, the route stretches between Salt Lake Sector V and Howrah Maidan.

The July 28 meeting will also discuss ways to develop the area around Sealdah station and finalise the plan for Esplanade station.

Representatives of all stake-holding agencies - transport department, Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), Calcutta Municipal Corporation, police and the CMDA - will attend the meeting, officials said. The KMRC is the implementing agency of East-West Metro.

"We have reached a stage where the government and the railways are in a position to discuss the proposed extension of the East-West Metro route," a transport department official said.

"Once we receive the report of a feasibility study conducted by the state government for the extension till Santragachhi, we will send it to the Railway Board," a railway official said.

The proposed extension on the other side - from Central Park in Salt Lake till Haldiram's on VIP Road - has been sanctioned by the railway ministry.

Nabanna sources said the Bengal government had completed the feasibility study of the proposed extension in Howrah.

The report for the stretch spanning 10km between Howrah Maidan and Santragachhi has identified two possible routes - one of which passes through Mourigram and the other by the Padmapukur Waterworks.

"We will decide which route to follow based on consensus," an official said.

For the proposed 5.36km extension from Central Park to VIP Road, Rites (a central government enterprise) has identified a route which will terminate on a plot near Haldiram's. The feasibility report proposes to change the alignment from the middle of VIP Road to the left.

As for the plan to develop the area around Sealdah station, an official said: "An estimated 20 lakh people travel through Sealdah every day. The crowd could swell by several lakhs once East-West Metro is added to the transport options. So, there is an urgent need to upgrade the facilities around Sealdah station."

The government has engaged Rites to study the traffic pattern around the station.