Metro work done, Wellington Square to get back green top
Times of India | 2 November 2025
Kolkata: After 10 years, KMRC has freed Wellington Square, now called Raja Subodh Mullick Square, for KMC to redevelop it as a green patch.
The land was initially acquired by KMRC, the implementing agency of East-West Metro, to build an underground station along the East-West Metro corridor.
The plan was later revised to make way for a ventilation-cum-evacuation shaft at the location that is halfway between Esplanade and Sealdah stations.
Two years ago, the vent shaft plan was dropped as well because the porous soil did not allow linking the twin East-West Metro tunnels with the shaft. Every attempt resulted in cave-ins. Finally, the Union urban development ministry dropped the construction hurdle that was delaying the corridor's full 16.6km operations as the Esplanade-Sealdah section remained incomplete for more than five years.
With the Green Line running its entire stretch, the land is of no use to KMRC. It has been handed back to KMC, the original owner.
Debasish Kumar, the MMiC heading KMC's parks and gardens department, told TOI: "We have elaborate plans to redevelop Wellington Square, a heritage park located in the heart of the city and visited by several central Kolkata residents." The plan includes landscaping, beautification, a segregated sporting zone, an open gymnasium, and "lots of greenery".
The park now wears an unkempt look, mostly in the aftermath of metro construction. KMRC, which was given the land free of cost, built a structure to relocate the sports club founded by Netaji in 1927, with its boxing arena. The club now functions next to the area that was earlier demarcated for metro construction. So does a gym, which was also shifted out of the construction zone.
On Sep 29, 2023, TOI reported that the Union urban affairs ministry had dropped the ventilation shaft construction to facilitate completion of the last 2.6 km Esplanade-Sealdah leg of East-West Metro.
The complex and almost impossible construction activity out of the way, KMRC was able to complete the last leg in April this year. PM Modi launched the section on Aug 22, following which the entire corridor started running from Howrah Maidan to Sector V.
KMRC has removed barricades around Wellington Square after pulling down the temporary constructions. But the ventilation shaft has not been touched so far. The authorities have yet to decide on demolishing the shaft. "Razing the shaft is a tricky proposition," an engineer conceded. The MMiC said: "We will have to talk to Metro to know if there is any hazard involving the shaft's removal. If needed, we may include the concrete structure in our redevelopment scheme.