The Centre on Wednesday said that the Bengal government is responsible for more than two decades of delays to Kolkata metro’s expansion.

Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Parliament that repeated non-cooperation from the state has stalled key corridors.

The assertion came in a written reply to Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee’s question seeking an update on the Centre’s plans to extend metro services to Kolkata’s suburbs, including timelines.

Around 6.26 km of work is still unfinished between Majerhat and Esplanade on the 14-km Joka-Esplanade line.

The biggest reason, the Union minister wrote, remains the unresolved shifting of the Dr B.C. Roy Market near Esplanade, where 528 unauthorised shops stand in the way of station work.

“The proposal for NOC [no-objection certificate] of temporary/permanent shifting of these shops was submitted to the state government in February 2022. Shops for temporary shifting of these unauthorized shops have also been constructed by Railway. Regular follow up with State PWD is also being done. Issue is pending for more than 3.5 years,” Vaishnaw wrote

Another hurdle he highlighted was land needed for the Khidderpur station — 837 sq m of permanent and 1,702 sq m of temporary land belonging to the Kolkata armed police — was withheld for almost five years, he said.

“The proposal for this land was sent on 24 August 2020. After a lot of persuasion, approval came in July 2025,” Vaishnaw informed the Parliament.

On the 32-km New Garia–Dum Dum Airport corridor, work on 22.2 km from Beleghata to the airport remains paralysed even after the railways constructed a diversion road at Chingrighata in February this year as demanded by Kolkata traffic police.

“Since then, several meetings have been held with various state and Kolkata police officials for NOC. The NOC is still awaited even after about 10 months,” Vaishnaw added.

Progress on the 18 km Noapara–Barasat line is similarly stuck.

Construction on the 7.5-km New Barrackpore–Barasat stretch in this line has been halted due to unresolved land acquisition of 23,000 sq m and removal of 1,277 hutments and 764 shops.

“The matter is not yet resolved by the state government,” Vaishnaw wrote.

The longest delay is in the 14.5 km Baranagar–Barrackpore–Dakshineshwar route, where 12.5 km of work has been blocked for 13 years.

Despite a MoU {memorandum of understanding) signed in 2011 specifying that an existing pipeline along BT Road would be replaced by the state — a task completed in 2012 — the railways said it was still waiting for an NOC from the Bengal government.

On 22 August, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had reminded that as railway minister between 2009 and 2011, she had sanctioned and planned the projects.

“I was fortunate in planning and sanctioning series of Metro Railway corridors in metropolitan Kolkata. I had drawn the blueprints, arranged the funds, initiated the works and ensured that the different ends of the city ( Joka, Garia, Airport, Sector V, etc) were connected by an intra- city Metro grid. Later, as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, I had the additional privilege of taking part in execution of the projects. From the State, I arranged free land, paved roads, arranged rehabilitation of displaced people, removed impediments, and ensured all help in the execution of projects,” Mamata wrote on X on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration of three metro stretches in Kolkata.

Now, the Centre has redirected the finger of blame to her government for delays in the same projects.