Police have asked the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) for a timeline for the completion of the construction of two pillars of the New Garia-Airport Metro link, for which a part of EM Bypass, near Metropolitan crossing, was handed over to the agency nearly three months ago.
The two pillars — pillar numbers 286 and 287 — are key for the construction of the proposed Beleghata station along the Metro route. The first one has been constructed and the second is incomplete.
“We have sought a timeline by which the second pillar will be completed and the site will be returned to us by the RVNL officials,” said a senior officer of Calcutta police.
“Metropolitan (the intersection near the Bypass dhaba) remains a crucial intersection on EM Bypass and construction work can’t go on indefinitely,” the officer said.
A senior official of the RVNL said the remaining work for the second pillar is likely to be completed within the next fortnight.
The occasional delays have been because of the rains followed by the festivities over the last month, the official said.
“We have started providing details of the construction schedules for every step of constructing a pillar with a possible timeline so there is complete clarity about the work,” said the official.
“We have realised that it takes close to 75 days to construct a pillar.”
Since late August, when a part of the median divider near the crossing was barricaded to aid the construction work, traffic along both the north and south flanks of the Bypass has been channelised.
The traffic signals have been tweaked and additional road space has been culled out on both flanks to allow faster dispersal of vehicles — the ones from Parama flyover and those arriving from Salt Lake Bypass — along the thoroughfare. Prior to the handover of the site, separate traffic trials were held and vehicles trying to reach the Ruby-bound flank of the Bypass from the crossing were diverted further north.
“Once these two pillars are ready, they will be joined with two others with iron truss before the connecting ducts, made of concrete, are launched,” said a police officer overseeing the work.
“This work will possibly require a traffic block for a few nights again.”
Once this work is completed, the plan is to construct another pillar near the Chingrighata intersection, near Nicco Park. This pillar will come in the way of vehicles turning left from the Chingrighata crossing towards New Town, an officer said.
“The site has already been earmarked. But this can only be handed over after the work at the Metropolitan crossing is completed,” the officer said.
Metro Railway has set a December deadline for completing construction till the Metropolitan crossing, till Sector V by June 2024 and till City Centre II by December 2024.
By the end of this year, Metro plans to start services on the 5km New Garia-Ruby stretch.