Bomb-like object sends EW Metro workers into tizzy

Kolkata: Workers carrying out construction work at the proposed East West Metro project stumbled upon something that resembled a bomb, near the proposed site of Subhas Sarovar Metro station on EM Bypass on Sunday morning.

The bomb was recovered from a place on the western side of the proposed station, where tracks are being laid for running of rakes.

The labourers working at the site informed their seniors, who contacted the Phoolbagan police station.

Within a few minutes, a police team reached the spot and informed the bomb squad of Kolkata Police. The officials from the bomb squad, along with a sniffer dog, was pressed into service and the object was defused.

"The bomb had gun powder and splinters in it and if it had exploded, then things could have been worse," a worker involved with the construction work of the Metro project said.

Engineers from Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Ltd (KMRCL), the implementing agency of the EW Metro project, also visited the spot.

"We have informed the police and they are investigating the matter. Work has resumed at the site," said Biswanath Dewanjee, Chief Engineer (Civil) of KMRCL.

Sleuths who recovered the object, said that it was a bomb shell and the gun powder inside it was not strong enough to cause any explosion or injure anybody.

"We are trying to find out how it reached the place," an investigating officer from Phoolbagan police station said, who seized the object after it was defused.