Tunnel-boring work for E-W Metro to recommence soon: Official

The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) is set to restart work on the city's East-West Metro corridor after it had come to a halt last year. The project had come to a halt after a machine had hit an aquifer, leading to severe ground subsidence and collapse of buildings.

Kolkata: Work for the city's East-West Metro corridor, which had come to a halt following an accident last year, will recommence soon, a senior KMRC official here said on Thursday.

Tunnel-boring work was put on hold after a machine hit an aquifer on August 31 at Bowbazar area, leading to severe ground subsidence and collapse of buildings.

"We will restart tunnelling work soon; precautions and safety measures are being taken for the purpose in keeping with the guidelines given by the Calcutta High Court," KMRC general manager (administration) A K Nandy told reporters.

The Calcutta High Court had on February 11 allowed the resumption of tunnel-boring work for the corridor.

Accepting a report by IIT-Madras, the court's division bench directed the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), the executing agency for the project, to restart operations in Bowbazar area, in consultation with the institute.

The bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee had in September last year ordered the suspension of tunnelling work till further orders.

Three months later, the KMRC, in view of a report prepared by its expert committee, moved the court seeking its permission to resume operations.

On a prayer by an NGO to get the expert committee report vetted by an independent agency, the KMRC requested IIT-Madras to review its findings.

The institute, in its report, stated that tunnel- boring work could be resumed.

On February 13, the 4.88 km-long first phase of the East-West Metro, connecting Sector V in Salt Lake with Yuva Bharati Krirangan stadium, got functional.

Inaugurating the service, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had said the entire 16.5 km stretch of the corridor - from Sector V to Howrah Maidan - is likely to be ready in two years.

PTI Report