Work on Noapara-Barasat metro route gather pace

Kolkata: The construction work of Noapara–Barasat via Bimanbandar Extension Project has picked up pace during the lockdown as Metro officers and staff are working round the clock in order to complete the work at the earliest.

While the entire stretch of Noapara-Barasat Line of the Kolkata Metro is 16.876 km in North 24-Parganas, the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) is the implementing agency of the project.

In the first phase of seven km stretch, the work involved the construction of a viaduct and underground tunnel work of Bimanbandar Station (Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Airport).

"Metro Railway has achieved a milestone by completing uninterrupted 1481.5 cubic metre concreting work for Roof Slab of Bimanbandar Metro station of Noapara-Barasat vide Bimanbandar Extension Project. The concreting work started on August 10 and completed on August 11," said an official of Kolkata Metro Railway.

He said that 48 engineers, operators and workers worked in tandem and completed this job in two shifts in spite of COVID-19

lockdown.

Required number of labourers, plant and machinery have been deployed at the sites all the while following the strict COVID-19 guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Site offices, labour camps and site premises are being sanitized on a regular basis and strict health monitoring of each worker is being done on a daily basis. Workers have been provided with face masks, hand sanitizers, soaps and hygiene equipment.

In the lockdown period, approximately 2000 MT of steel and 10,000 cubic metre of concrete have been consumed. "This has generated indirect employment opportunities for approximately 500 labourers at this critical juncture," pointed out the official.

Fund allocation for Noapara-Barasat metro project has been increased in the 2019-20 Metro Budget.

The budget allocation for construction of Noapara-Barasat via Bimanbandar project is Rs 225 crore. The budget allocation in this project has been approximately increased by Rs 48 crore.