12 Kolkata: Top Kolkata Police officers on Tuesday met officials of RVNL, the implementing agency of the Joka-Esplanade Metro project, to find ways to sort the land issues that are threatening to derail the project. Following the meeting, it was decided that the state govt will convene a discussion at Nabanna on Thursday so that Kidderpore station can stay as planned, and be built on Kolkata Armed Police's land at Bodyguard Lines.
TOI on Tuesday reported that the land hurdle that has emerged over the construction of the Kidderpore station leaves RVNL with no other option but to drop the underground station from the Purple Line alignment. If that happens, the corridor may have to end at Mominpore instead of going up to Esplanade.
On Tuesday, RVNL made a presentation on the various options they worked on over the past few months and how each option turned out to be unfeasible. The police, on the other hand, said they were in favour of the Kidderpore station being built as per the original plans. "They said they were looking forward to the restoration and upgradation of the Alipore Bodyguard Lines as promised by RVNL as part of the original agreement," said a source.
The project, which runs on through Diamond Harbour Road, has been stuck at Ekbalpore-Kidderpore area as the state govt has not responded to Metro Railway's repeated pleas for land at Alipore Bodyguard Lines to facilitate construction of the underground Kidderpore station.
If the corridor indeed ends at Mominpore, hopes of lakhs living in the Behala-Joka belt, who have been eagerly waiting for the line for over a decade, will be shattered.