Stalled girder launching work at Kolkata's Chingrighata Crossing for metro work completed

The girder launching work at Chingrighata Crossing on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass has been completed, paving the way for the commercial run of the New Garia-Airport metro corridor by December.

The girder launching work, stalled over traffic block permission issues, at the busy Chingrighata Crossing on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass here for the New Garia-Airport metro corridor was completed on Monday morning, an official said.

Metro authorities have said commercial run on the line is expected to start by December this year, which will facilitate the commute for lakhs of passengers.

''Girder launching work at Chingrighata has been successfully completed this morning at 5 am ahead of schedule with the active support of the West Bengal government,'' a Metro Railway official said.

Work for the construction of the 366-metre viaduct was stalled for more than a year over lack of permission from the previous Trinamool Congress government and the police.

The Metro official said adequate safety arrangements were taken for the completion of the pending work at Chingrighata Crossing for two successive weekends and the traffic block was lifted at 5 am, restoring normal traffic along the EM Bypass.

Small diversions were in place at the important crossing connecting the IT hub of Sector V and New Town on one side and north and south Kolkata on the other over the two weekends.

The Supreme Court had, on March 23, pulled up the West Bengal government for ''creating roadblocks'' in the ongoing construction of the Kolkata Metro rail project corridor and asked it not to politicise a developmental issue which is beneficial for the common man.

The Calcutta High Court had, on December 23, expressed concern at the delay in the completion of the project owing to the impasse over traffic block permission by the police, and directed that the work be completed by February 15, 2026.

The petitioners in a PIL claimed that though work for the metro line connecting Kavi Subhash with Sector V has mostly been completed, the impasse over construction at the Chingrighata Crossing across the EM bypass has been pending for a long time.

The issue of permission for the project, which even figured in the West Bengal assembly election campaign, was resolved with the new government granting the necessary go ahead immediately after taking office.