An underpass of the Majerhat bridge, located towards its Kidderpore-end, has been closed to traffic to facilitate launching of girders of the new bridge.

Lalbazar has decided that Raja Santosh Road, which connects Alipore Avenue near Sri Sri Academy in Chetla with the Majherhat bridge, will also be closed to traffic as a precautionary measure to avoid any mishap while the girders are launched on the bridge top.

SP Singla Constructions, the Haryana-based agency that is rebuilding the bridge, said the closure would continue for several months till the girders, or steel rods, were successfully launched on the bridge.

Police said the closure was for an indefinite period.

With Ganga Sagar Mela to be held from January 13 to 15, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had recently written to railway minister Piyush Goyal requesting his intervention to clear procedural delays for finishing the construction of the new Majherhat bridge.

Several lakh devotees are scheduled to converge at Ganga Sagar and Bengal wants to finish the work early so that pilgrims can use the bridge to reach the mela.

Senior officers said the decision to start launching girders was taken soon after the letter reached Rail Bhavan in New Delhi.

The underpass of the Majerhat bridge, a portion of which had collapsed on September 4 last year, was a gateway for small vehicles that would come down Diamond Harbour Road from Kidderpore and head for Taratala Road after taking the Garden Reach flyover.

The vehicles would take a service road that runs along the bridge and then take a right turn to reach the underpass. The detour down the Garden Reach flyover helped many avoid the congestion on the Durgapur bridge and in Chetla and take an easy drive to reach Taratala Road.

“After Bailey bridge was made a one-way road, taking the Garden Reach flyover from the underpass was the best option for small vehicles headed for parts of Jinjirabazar, Batanagar and Behala from Kidderpore,” said Anup Sarkar, a Batanagar resident. “With the underpass remaining closed, we will be forced to take the Durgapur bridge,” he said.

Police officers said the closure would mean a large chunk of small vehicles that used to move towards Taratala Road would now converge at the intersection of Alipore Road and Burdwan Road, popular as Lalbati crossing.

Those residing on Raja Santosh Road would have to take a detour from the crossing and reach Chetla to reach home.

During peak traffic hours the detour could be punishing because the vehicle count on Alipore Road, which leads to the Durgapur bridge, would go up manifold.

“We will have to increase deployment of police managing traffic on Alipore Road,” said a senior police officer. “”Things could get challenging during the evening hours.”