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Bengal

KMDA to complete subway at Kadapara Crossing before 2nd match of U-17 World Cup

Kolkata: The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) is hopeful of completing the subway at Kadapara Crossing on Eastern Metropolitan Bypass to connect Phoolbagan side to that of Salt Lake before October 10, when the second match of the Fifa Under-17 World Cup is scheduled at Swami Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan.
The KMDA that was supposed to complete the subway before the Under-17 World Cup that starts from Friday stumbled upon an underground drainage system that was constructed many years ago, most likely dating back to the British period.
"We were supposed to finish the construction of two subways — one at Kadapara crossing and another at Beliaghata Connector for facilitating the flow of traffic and smooth passage of pedestrians while crossing over to Salt Lake. However, recently we came upon an underground drainage system posing a barrier to the construction of the underpass at Kadapara. So there would be delay in the process and the construction would take a few more days. However, we are optimistic of completing the work by October 10," a senior official of KMDA said.
A senior KMDA engineer informed that the underground drainage did not come up while doing the alignment mapping of the area before building the underpass.
The mapping of the existence of the underground drainage was also not available with any government agency including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Indiscriminately, going forward with the construction work would have resulted in inundation," he added.
State Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim claimed that the underground drainage system is much lower than the ground level similar to that which existed during the British period. "There will be some diversions from the original plan, Hakim said.
KMDA has decided to proceed a little slow and the alternative plan without causing any inconvenience to anybody has already been put in place. However, the subway at the Beliaghata Connector will be readied before Sunday, when the first Under-17 World Cup match will be held in the city.
Work for the construction of both the subways started a few months back and the state government had allocated Rs 34 crore for the purpose.
The Kolkata Police have, however, made elaborate plans to avoid congestion during the Under-17 World Cup along the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass.
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