Kolkata: Beliaghata traffic guard has started a trial run of vehicles moving towards Ultadanga along the EM Bypass for the purpose of constructing three Metro piers at the Chingrihata crossing.
According to sources, a new road has already been constructed already after crossing the service road of the Metropolitan area, parallel to the Captain Bheri, which is being used to divert the vehicular movement.
As per the plan, the vehicles will use the newly built road to bypass a certain stretch of the EM Bypass and again use the main carriageway before the Canal South Road.
As per the decision, at present, only heavy vehicles such as buses, dumpers and minibuses are being diverted through the new road to acclimatise to the vehicular diversion.
The trial began on Wednesday and will continue for seven days.
The police are considering extending the period after assessing the on-ground situation during the seven-day diversion phase.
As of now, the diversion will be active during peak hours twice a day– i.e. 8 am to 11:30 am and 5 pm to 8:30 pm. The actual time of diversion may vary depending on the pressure of vehicular traffic.
Though the diversion is necessary for the construction of Metro piers between 12 am and 5 am, the trial has been planned during peak hours to help the traffic cops get accustomed to the situation and act accordingly.
It may be mentioned that earlier several controversies had cropped up over the construction of Metro piers at the Chingrihata crossing with Metro authorities complaining about not getting a traffic block while the state administration and police cited several issues for not granting a traffic block.
On December 23, the Calcutta High Court fixed February 15, 2026, as the deadline for completion of a stalled stretch of the Orange Line Metro project at Chingrihata.
The court had also asked the state government and traffic police to decide two consecutive weekend night traffic blockade dates required for the erection of the metro piers.