Construction of five piers on the Shyambazar-end of the Tallah bridge and two on the Dunlop-end will be over by March 2021, the state government has decided after a recent review of the pace of work of one Calcutta’s biggest infrastructure projects in the north.

PWD engineers have been accordingly briefed and a blueprint on the work to be done over the next three months has been readied.

The foundation for construction of two of the six piers that will come up between railway tracks will also be over by March-end, senior officials in the know said.

“There are two immediate deadlines. The first milestone will be reached by March-end. By August 2021, work worth nearly Rs 160 crore, of the total project cost of Rs 340 crore, will be completed,” said a senior PWD official.

“That means that by August, roughly 40 per cent of the construction work of the Tallah bridge will be over.”

The new schedule of work and the deadlines were drawn up soon after the railway sent its approval for the construction of six piers between seven pairs of railway tracks to hold a 200m-long deck slab of the bridge.

The state government had in September sent a detailed proposal to the railway about how it wants to go about constructing the six pillars. The railway’s clearance is required since the Tallah structure will be a railway overbridge.

A formal go-ahead from the railway reached the state government a few days back. prompting PWD officials to take stock of the work done so far in Tallah and draw up a blueprint.

“We will take blocks on movement of trains of the Circular Railway in Tallah at night for the foundation work of two of the six piers that will come up on the railway land,” a PWD engineer said.

The bridge will replace the one that was pulled down a few months ago following reports from engineers that it could collapse any moment.

The bridge, which will be a key link of Calcutta with northern suburbs, will have two spans on either side of the flat deck in the middle.