Mumbai, Oct. 30 -- Kolkata Metro's 4.5 km Beleghata-IT Centre corridor, also known as the Sector V stretch, is nearing completion, with commercial services targeted for December after testing and certification. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has asked Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate the corridor.
The stretch forms part of Phase 3 of the 32 km Kavi Subhash-Jai Hind corridor. The project was approved in 2010 and was divided into five construction phases. Services between Kavi Subhash, also known as New Garia, and Hemanta Mukhopadhyay, or Ruby, began in 2024, while operations were extended from Ruby to Beleghata last year.
Trial runs on the Beleghata-IT Centre section have been under way since Mahalaya. The Railway Ministry is seeking an early inauguration date, while the state government wants services to begin before several major events scheduled in Kolkata in December, including the international film festival, Pravasi Sammelan and the World Energy Conference.
During a programme in Jaipur, Adhikari also sought central assistance for railway connectivity to Gangasagar. He assured the Union government of support in securing land and requested that the pilgrimage site be connected to the national railway network through a tunnel or bridge. The state has highlighted annual Makar Sankranti footfall of about 10 mn pilgrims and is working towards completing the Muriganga Bridge by 2029.
Vaishnaw attributed delays in the project to permission-related obstacles under the previous Trinamool Congress government. He said the administration led by Adhikari had completed a 366 m viaduct at Chingrighata in 17 days after the work had remained stalled for 17 months. The Chingrighata section had been identified as a long-standing obstacle to completing the corridor, and its completion has enabled the remaining testing and certification work to proceed.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.