Airport-New Garia Metro hits hurdle; Chingrighata traffic block nod yet to come
Telegraph | 1 April 2025
The Metro link between New Garia and the airport has yet again encountered a wall of uncertainty.
The agency constructing the corridor has started pulling out workers and removing machines from a construction site at the Chingrighata crossing on EM Bypass, where a 366m gap in the viaduct needs to be bridged.
A traffic block is needed to lift concrete segments to bridge the gap. The police permission for the block, pending for two months, has not yet come. The gap in the viaduct lies between Beleghata and Gour Kishore (Chingrighata) stations.
More than 200 workers were deployed at the site. But they had been sitting idle. So, the contractor has withdrawn most of them. Only a handful remain, but they will also be shifted out if the traffic block is not granted, said an official of the RVNL, the implementing agency of the 32km corridor.
“Cranes, big and small, JCB excavators and trucks parked at the site are also being removed,” he said.
Metro Railway awaits permission from the state government for the traffic block to lift concrete segments for two spans, from pier 317 to 318, and from pier 318 to 319.
The RVNL has formally sought a traffic block at the Chingrighata crossing in two phases to complete the work, each for three nights, between 10pm and 6am.
On March 13, this newspaper reported on this 366m gap, which railway officials said was the last remaining hurdle for the project, already delayed by several years.
Sources in the state government had said the proposal was sent for clearance to Nabanna.
Initially, the government cited the Bengal Global Business Summit and the Madhyamik exam to withhold the permission.
“Work has remained stuck since February 2. Two months have passed. Despite repeated discussions with government representatives at different levels, there seems to be no headway. We have already suffered a loss of around ₹2 crore. The men and machines cannot be kept waiting indefinitely,” said a Metro official.
RVNL officials had proposed taking the traffic blocks on weekends when the traffic volume is relatively lower.
The agency has also built a 600m diversion road following a communication from Kolkata Police.
The road, which cuts through Captain Bheri, a water body which is part of the East Calcutta wetlands, a Ramsar site, will be dismantled after the viaduct gap is bridged.
Railway officials held several meetings with the police and the urban development department to resolve the impasse. Some ministers and senior officers of Kolkata Police have visited the site.
The Orange Line is now functional on a 5.4km stretch between New Garia and Ruby. Trial runs are underway in the next 4.4km stretch from Ruby to Beleghata. Construction is on from Beleghata to the airport, a distance of just over 19km. The current target to complete the project is March 2026, officials said.
But the delay in bridging the gap at Chingrighata will further delay the project, said Metro officials.
The 32km project from New Garia to the airport was originally supposed to be wrapped up by 2016-17, but was delayed by land logjams at several places.