Completion of link road to cut down travel time to Basanti Highway
Kolkata: Soon, the travelling time to Basanti Highway from the southern fringes of the city will be cut down by at least 30 minutes with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) being optimistic about completing the two lane link road from EM Bypass crossing — Avishikta connector to Basanti Highway before the Durga Puja.
"We are in the last phase of work. A large number of commuters, particularly from the southwestern part of the city, including Kidderpore, Garden Reach, Metiaburz, Behala, Tollygunge etc can avail this road and directly reach Basanti Highway via Prince Anwar Shah Road connector without taking the longer — Science City route, once the 3.5 km stretch is completed. There is an existing road up to a well-known school via PA Shah Road extension till Chowbhaga area and will soon be extended by this 3.5 km stretch, connecting directly with Basanti Highway," said Ratan Dey, Member Mayor-in-Council (Roads), KMC said.
Basanti Highway is touted to be the state's gateway to the Sunderbans — one of the most popular tourist destinations in the state. Bantala, the second IT hub in the state after Rajarhat- New Town can also be reached via Basanti Highway. A campus of IT giant Cognizant is located there.
It may be mentioned that sometime in the middle of 2016, two residents had managed to draw the attention of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was travelling along the Bhojerhat area and urged her to construct a road connecting Chowbhaga to Basanti for commuters' convenience.
The matter was immediately taken up by Mayor Sovan Chatterjee and plans were chalked out for the connecting road.
The KMC has also planned to widen Jibanananda Setu at Prince Anwar Shah Road connector.
The bridge over the railway tracks connecting Sealdah to parts of South 24-Parganas often witness traffic snarls due to its narrow space.
"There is a huge rush of vehicles headed to Bypass from Jadavpur police station crossing and Kolkata Police has also expressed similar views. We have had discussions with them in this regard and we will soon sent a proposal to the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) to study the feasibility aspect of this bridge widening," a senior official of KMC's road department said. Travelling from South Kolkata to Basanti Highway will become much faster if a second span of the bridge could be created. "We need to clear some encroachments including a building and for this, we need to have a proper rehabilitation plan in place. We are working on it," the official maintained.
