Rs 905 cr for East-West Metro corridor, 1st phase to be inaugurated on Feb 13

Kolkata: A budgetary grant of Rs 905 crore has been allocated for the East-West Metro corridor, the first phase of which is scheduled to be inaugurated on February 13. The grant for the East-West Metro corridor is the highest among the five projects currently underway in Kolkata.

"The ongoing Metro railway projects in the city have been allotted a budgetary grant of Rs 1,542 crore for fiscal 2020-21," said an official.

The New Garia-NSCBI Airport link, expected to be completed by June 2021, has been allotted Rs 328 crore, while the Noapara-Barasat line has received a grant of Rs 200 crore.

The 16.6-km Joka-BBD Bag route has been granted Rs 99 crore. The Barrackpore-Baranagar and Dakshineswar stretch, covering a distance of 14.5 km, allotted Rs 10 crore. "Funds would not be a constraint for any of the five projects," pointed out the official. Metro Railway general manager Manoj Joshi, along with senior officers of Metro Railway and Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL) inspected the East-West Metro stretch from Salt Lake Sector V to Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday, a week ahead of its inauguration.

He travelled from Salt Lake Sector V to Salt Lake stadium in metro and inspected the condition of the track, signalling systems, booking counters, functioning of screen doors, ticket gates, escalators and lifts at stations.

Expressing his satisfaction after seeing the preparations for the inaugural run, Joshi said: "The East-West Metro will be able to fulfil the expectations of the commuters and become a fast and comfortable mode of transport." The first phase of the East-West Metro is a five-kilometre stretch between Salt Lake Sector V and Salt Lake Stadium, including Karunamoyee, Central Park, City Centre and Bengal Chemical stations.

According to officials, Railway minister Piyush Goyal will unveil the first phase of East-West Metro. The fare structure will be Rs 5 for 0-2 km and Rs 10 for 2-5 km. The trains will run at an interval of 20 minutes. There will be 37 pairs of trains running between Salt Lake Sector V and Salt Lake Stadium.