Good news for Kolkatans.
In a much needed boost to the city's transport network, major blocks in the expansion of various metro rail projects have been resolved, giving rise to hope that some would be starting operations within two year's time.
According to a senior officer at the state Secretariat Nabanna, the expansion of the existing Metro railway from Kabi Subhas-Noapara till the city airport is expected to be completed by another one and half years' time and operational within two years.
"The rehabilitation programme by South Dumdum Municipality is complete. We are hoping that the expansion of the existing metro lines from Kabi Subhas to Noapara till the airport will be over within one and half years," the official said.
He said the expansion was part of the extension of the Kabi Subhas-Noapara metro till Barasat. The East-West Metro project, from Salt Lake's Sector V till Howrah Maidan, is expected to be operational till Sealdah within another one and half year's time, he said. The official stated that although most of the hindrances in case of the Joka-BBD Bagh Metro project have been resolved, "the state has written to the Centre requesting amendment of the Acts regarding construction close to heritage structures in certains points in the city".
"Problems have been addressed but now we are facing issues regarding construction near heritage buildings... As per the Acts, one cannot dig or run a construction within 100 metres of a heritage building. But when the Joka metro line reaches BBD Bag area, we have quite a few heritage buildings.
So we need amendment of the Act. We have already written to the Centre regarding this," he said.
For the expansion of the Kabi Subhas-Biman Bandar (Kabi Subhas airport) project, the official said there were a few bottlenecks and all will be addressed promptly. Talking about the Baranagar-Dakshineswar-Barrackpore Metro railway project, the senior official said as there were several problems in the Dakshineswar-Barrackpore sector, "priority has been given to the expansion from Noapara till Dakishneswar."
In fact, deadlines of 24 months have been set up for Joka-BBD Bagh, and for the Noapara-Dakshinewar project, a timeline of 18 months has been given, he said. Incidentally, a meeting was today held at the secretariat after the Centre allocating huge funds for the metro railway projects in the state. Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, state Chief Secretary Basudeb Bandyopadhyay and other senior officials of the state government and representatives from the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) were present at the meeting.
The Centre has set aside over Rs 17,810 crore for metro projects across the country in the Union Budget for 2017-18, which is a jump of nearly 14 per cent over last years allocation.
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 "Kolkata Metro")
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