Finalize Chingrighata diversion dates by Jan 6, finish metro work by Feb 15: HC
Times of India | 24 December 2025
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the state to finalize dates for traffic diversions by Jan 6 to ensure that metro viaduct bridging work at Chingrighata crossing is completed by Feb 15, 2026. The court held that festivals and traffic congestion will persist, but dates need to be fixed so that people can benefit from travel at the earliest and project cost escalation can be avoided.
"One festival is followed by another festival. It is difficult to get a festival-free season. Traffic congestion and pressure will continue to enhance and will not reduce. Thus, it is in the fitness of things to fix early dates for the construction of piers so that people can get the benefit of travel at the earliest between two stations, and in addition, the cost escalation can be avoided. These elements are of paramount public interest. A decision without considering these factors must be called irrational," the division bench of acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta observed on Tuesday.
The division bench noted that they would not have "ordinarily" given this order, but considering the Sept 4 undertaking of reaching a consensus between authorities did not "translate into reality", the court directed the state to decide on two consecutive weekend night traffic blockade dates for the construction of piers by RVNL before Feb 15. The state was directed to inform Metro and RVNL by Jan 6, 2026.
Advocate general Kishore Datta submitted that cops were not granting nod for stopping traffic movement at Chingrighata before Jan 20, fearing huge traffic congestion of vehicles carrying Gangasagar pilgrims.
RVNL, implementing agency of the 32-km Orange Line, needs to launch two concrete girders between three piers atop the busy Bypass intersection and proceed to bridge the last 366-m viaduct gap to allow linking the Orange Line or New Garia-Airport corridor with Salt Lake Sector V. RVNL was aiming to commission the Orange Line's Beleghata-Sector V section in June 2025.
Datta on Tuesday pleaded for a stay in the operation of the order, but the court rejected the prayer. The division bench didn't accept the advocate general's submission that the PIL filed in this regard was not maintainable. Instead, the court held that the petition was maintainable because the project involved huge amounts of public money. The Acting CJ mentioned that the HC intervened in removing hurdles for the E-W Metro or Green Line's Salt Lake-Howrah route. "Needless to emphasise that if a project is sanctioned, it requires spending a huge amount of money. With the delay of the project, not only are people deprived of the benefit arising out of such a project, but the cost also gets escalated, which is ultimately a burden on the state exchequer," the bench held.
The state had on Dec 17 fixed a meeting at Metro Bhavan between the state and metro authorities. With the girder-launching work pending since Feb 2, RVNL has been seeking two weekend nights to launch the two spans atop Chingrighata crossing.