The urban development department has decided to finish by June the demolition of the Vivekananda Road flyover, a part of which collapsed in March 2016 killing 26 people, officials said.
KMDA engineers who are supervising the demolition said the agency dismantling the structure had been told to finish work by June.
“The company hired for the demolition has been asked to wrap up work by June so a major part of central Kolkata’s business district becomes free for traffic,” said a senior KMDA official.
“We don't want to stretch this work till the onset of the monsoon, when things can become challenging.”
Last June, a Mumbai-based company that specialises in demolition of flyovers in congested urban pockets had begun pulling down the Vivekananda Road flyover. Almost six months later, the third phase of the demolition is nearing completion.
A 300-metre stretch of the remaining part of the flyover between Ganesh Talkies and Malapara in Posta is being demolished amid a series of traffic restrictions, which are forcing vehicles to take diverted routes through central and north Kolkata.
“The area in Posta where demolition work is on is one of the most densely populated pockets in the city. Pulling down a concrete structure there is extremely challenging,” said an engineer of the company at the site.
“Every single step needs to be calculated over and over again. So it is taking time to pull down the structure.”
Before the completion of the third phase, senior officials of the urban development department said they would seek a traffic block from the police so that work in the last phase could be completed without a pause.
The area that will come under the last phase has been surveyed to understand the challenges. The area is dotted with old buildings with balconies jutting out and has streets with temples in the middle.
“We will hand over the area to the police and the KMC by June so that all traffic diversions can be withdrawn and the roads repaired,” the KMDA official said.
