The city's five Metro projects together could wangle an allocation that is almost half of what Chennai and Bangalore Metro got last year, a stinging indictment of the slo-mo Calcutta schemes.

The railway budget has proposed an allocation of less than Rs 1,100 crore for the five Metro projects in Calcutta for the 2015-16 fiscal.

Chennai Metro alone got more than Rs 2,000 crore last year while Bangalore Metro had received more than Rs 13,000 crore over the past six years.

Experts attribute the stark difference in funds allocation to the tardy pace of the Calcutta projects.

Work on Bangalore Metro, running one year behind schedule, is likely to be wrapped up by December. Chennai Metro has been running a year late, too, and is expected to be ready by December 2016.

In Calcutta, all the projects are stuck at various places because of the state government's refusal to remove encroachers and hand over land for laying tracks.

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday proposed an allocation of Rs 530 crore for four Metro projects, against Rs 542 crore allotted last year. The projects are Joka-BBD Bag, Noapara-Baranagar-Dakshineswar-Barrackpore, Noapara-Airport-Barasat and New Garia-Airport.

The proposed allocation for the fifth project - East-West Metro - is Rs 500 crore, about half the amount demanded.

"There is no clarity on the completion date of any of the Metro projects in Calcutta because of land logjams. So, the budget allocations have gone down over the past few years," a railway ministry official said on Friday.

In 2012-13, the projects, except East-West Metro, had been allocated Rs 4,000 crore.

However, the Metro Railway and the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd could spend only Rs 800 crore, sources said. The remaining money went back to the Centre.

In the next fiscal, the four projects were allotted only Rs 1,500 crore. The amount further came down to Rs 542 crore in the 2014-15 fiscal and Rs 530 crore in the current budget.

"This time, funds have only been allocated for small stretches where there is no encroachment and work could proceed," a railway official said.

Infrastructure companies said the funds allocated for a project is a reflection of its progress.

"Continuous flow of funds from the Union and state governments means the project is on track. But a cut or slowdown in allocations, even when the government is not going through a financial crunch, shows the progress has been tardy," an official of a private construction company which is part of several infrastructure projects across India told Metro.

Construction of Bangalore Metro, a joint venture between the government of Karnataka and the Union urban development ministry, had started in 2007. The first phase was to cover 42km.

The first six kilometres -Reach I - was commissioned on October 20, 2011, within the deadline. Till now a 16-km route is operational. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) officials said another 3km would become operational by March 2015. "The remaining 23km is likely to be opened by December 2015, one year behind schedule," said the official.

Of the project cost of Rs 13,845 crore, more than Rs 13,000 crore has been allocated. This year, the BMRC is expecting about Rs 750 crore from the state and the Union governments.

"Funds have come as and when required. Work was never stalled because of a funds crunch," a BMRC official said. He said the BMRC, too, faced land hurdles and was hobbled by legal cases but the "issues were resolved one by one".

Chennai Metro, too, is a joint venture between the state government and the urban development ministry. Work on the first phase - covering 45km - started in 2009. An official of the Chennai Metro Rail Corporation (CMRC) said they were targeting to finish work by December 2016, an year behind schedule.

"More than 70 per cent of the project cost of Rs 17,000 crore has been disbursed," a CMRC official said.

But in Calcutta, funds allotment for the Metro projects has been dropping because of uncertainty resulting from the Trinamul government's hands-off land policy.

A construction company shared with this newspaper the difference in the experience of working in Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

"There were encroachment problems in Chennai, too. In the Pachaiyappa's College area, a market with 200 shops needed to be evacuated. It was successfully done," said an official of the company.

In Calcutta, construction is stalled at many places for more than three years because of encroachments. No solution seems to be in sight.

The official said a committee headed by the Tamil Nadu chief secretary used to meet regularly to discuss the problems being faced by Metro.

"They used to meet regularly till recently. Now that most land issues have been resolved, the panel doesn't meet so often," he said. "In Bengal, the government has hardly been seen taking a pro-active role in clearing the Metro hurdles."