Hopes revived for East-West Kolkata Metro as unwilling residents agree to relocate

Union minister Babul Supriyo raised the matter with CM Mamata Banerjee, which finally led to the problem being resolved

The residents of Salt Lake's Dattabad area, that had held up the East-West Metro project connecting Howrah with Sal Lake for a couple of years, have finally moved out of the construction area, reviving the hope for the delayed metro project.

According to Railway officials, this week all the 60 families, who were unwilling to relocate earlier, have finally moved to the new acommodations arranged by Railways with help of state government, about one km away from their current residences.

"The relocation process is over. Now they have given temporary acomodations. Their permanent flats for them would be ready by March 2016. Now within a few days work will resume," said an official of Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation (KMRCL), which is executing the project.

The unwilling residents backed by local Trinamool Congress, came into the way of the project. After making several unsuccessful efforts, recently Babul Supriyo, the junior Union minister for urban development, raised the matter with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, which finally paved the way for reviving the project.

Bidhannagar police and representatives of the state urban development department moniotored the relocation process, which continued throughout this week.

However, this is not the lone problem East-West metro project has encountered. At the insistence of the state government KMRC had to realign the metro route in the mid-way. The proposed alternative route for the East-West Metro is yet to be vetted by the Railways.

Incidentally, KMRCL, initially a joint venture between the Union urban development ministry and the West Bengal government, is developing the East West metro project that will connect Salt Lake to Howrah. Later in 2013, following a request from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, state's stake in the project was handed over to Indian Railways, which runs the existing metro services in Kolkata. Japanese Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC), which is funding 45 per cent of project cost of the budgeted Rs 4,875 crore for the East-West Metro.

West Bengal government's hand-off approach, which has made it difficult for KMRC to resove the relocation issue along the realignment has delayed the project by at least three years. "We are hoping by mid 2018 the entire torture will be ready for operation," an official said.

Earlier in the year, KMRCL has to terminate the Rs 780-crore manufacturing contract for 14 rakes with Spain's Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), one of the world's leading train maker. While the officials sighted technichal issue, the delay was understood to be the main reason. At the time of bidding, it was decided that CAF would get the rakes manufactured in Spain and would deliver by 2014-end, which was the deadline for commissioning the project.