Kolkata: After standing idle since Feb 2, 2025 next to Chingrighata crossing, the 500MT launcher moved for the first time to start placing a 28m concrete segment at 7.55pm on Friday. It moved 5m by 8.10pm.
Elaborate traffic arrangements were made at the busy EM Bypass intersection as Ultadanga bound cars moved along the new road built by RVNL in Dec 2024 to facilitate work to lift a concrete segment 12m atop Chingrighata crossing. Cops managed to vacate the Ultadanga bound flank at 8.23pm. "In the first phase, over the next 60 hours till Monday 8 am, 28m between piers 317 and 318 will be bridged," said Vipin Kumar, RVNL's chief project manager who's also officiating as the executive director. RVNL officials performed puja to mark the occasion.
A 366m gap in the metro viaduct at Chingrighata is the last hurdle in the Beleghata-Sector V stretch. On Friday railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted, "The Orange Line's Chingrighata impasse has been overcome as cops haven't given permission." Metro Railway CPRO SS Kannan said that Orange Line will reach Sector V by Dec this year.
Construction of the remaining stretch is underway, said an official of Railway Vikas Nigam Limited, the executing agency for the Orange Line, which aims to link Kavi Subhash (New Garia). The corridor is functional between New Garia and Beleghata. Chingrighata is the next station.
The police nod has been pending for months, despite multiple prods from Calcutta HC. Construction at Chingrighata has remained stalled for over a year. The SC also rebuked the Bengal govt for the long-stalled Metro construction at Chingrighata as a "dereliction of constitutional duties" and an attempt to politicise a project that would benefit people. The bench rejected the state's plea that clearing the project now would violate the model code of conduct, apart from triggering traffic roadblocks at one of the city's busiest intersections.
The Orange Line viaduct has at least four more gaps between Chingrighata and the airport. Concrete segments need lifting at most of these locations. " There was a complete stalemate only at Chingrighata. At other locations, there is some movement. We are finding ways to do the job without depending on traffic blocks," said an official.