The temporary paddock set up on the Maidan for training mounted police needs to be resurfaced with additional layers of soil and sand to prevent injuries to horses, Kolkata Police have told Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), the agency implementing the Joka-Esplanade Metro project.

“We have asked RVNL to loosen and level the uneven ground and make the paddock surface softer for the horses by adding layers of sand,” a senior Kolkata Police officer said. “The subsoil of a paddock needs ploughing with sand so that the surface is spongy for the horses.”

According to the police, the paddock surface has hardened over years of use and requires reworking to make it suitable for training and exercise.

The Kolkata Mounted Police unit, which has 61 horses, was established in 1840. The unit earlier trained some of its horses at the Royal Calcutta Turf Club ground before moving to a dedicated paddock on the Maidan in 2006. At present, the unit operates two stables: one at the Alipore Body Guard Lines and the other on SN Banerjee Road.

Mounted police horses are primarily deployed for crowd control during sporting events, fairs and large public gatherings on the Maidan. To stay fit, the horses undergo regular training that includes trotting, cantering, walking, and lunging exercises.

Around two years ago, Metro Railway set up a temporary paddock on a plot south of Shahid Minar after it was decided that the existing paddock near Manohar Das Tarag would have to be acquired for the construction of the Esplanade Metro station on the Joka-Esplanade route. Once the original paddock was taken over, the temporary one was fenced off and brought into use.

A plot measuring around 70X30 metres on the Maidan was converted into the makeshift paddock. However, senior police officers later realised that the new paddock, covering about 2,100 square metres, was far smaller than the old one, which measured around 7,000 square metres, and could not accommodate all the horses for training.

“The horses perform different law-and-order duties and need structured daily exercises. The surface must be maintained by mixing loose soil with sand and ensuring the ground underneath does not harden,” the officer said, adding that RVNL authorities had been cooperative so far.

To address the space constraint, an old paddock at the Body Guard Lines was rebuilt in June 2025 to allow horses to train under lights in the evenings. “This was the first time in the history of Kolkata Mounted Police that horses started training in the evenings,” the officer said. Both paddocks will remain operational until Metro Railway hands back the original Maidan paddock.

Sources in Metro Railway said the under-construction Esplanade station would be the terminal station of the 16km Joka-Esplanade corridor. Currently, the line is operational on an 8km elevated stretch between Joka and Majerhat, while the remaining underground section from Mominpore to Esplanade is under construction.

Once completed, Esplanade will function as a major multi-modal transport hub, connecting the North-South (Blue), East-West (Green), and Joka-Esplanade (Purple) Metro lines.