Stalled girder launching work at Kolkata's Chingrighata Crossing for metro rail completed

Kolkata, May 25 (PTI) A critical 62-metre viaduct gap on Kolkata Metro's ‘Orange Line’ at the busy Chingrighata crossing on EM Bypass has been successfully bridged after remaining "stalled for years", Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday.
    The girder launching work, stalled over traffic block permission issues, for the New Garia-Airport metro corridor was completed on Monday morning.
    "We have successfully bridged the 62-metre viaduct gap at Chingrhghata - a critical link on Kolkata Metro's Orange Line," Vaishnaw said in a post on X.
    The TMC "kept it stalled for years by refusing basic traffic diversion permissions", he said. Even after the High Court and Supreme Court cleared the project, the work still never moved, said Vaishnaw.

    "The obstruction ended, With night traffic blockades over two successive weekends, the work is complete, and the busy crossing road reopened three hours ahead of schedule," the minister said.
    Metro Railway authorities said commercial run on the stretch is expected to start by December this year.
    "Girder launching work at Chingrighata has been successfully completed this morning at 5 am… with the active support of the West Bengal government," a Metro Railway official said.
    Work for the construction of the viaduct was stalled over lack of permission from the previous Trinamool Congress government and the police.
    The official said adequate safety arrangements were made for the completion of the pending work at Chingrighata Crossing for two successive weekends and the traffic block was lifted at 5 am, restoring normal traffic along the EM Bypass.
    Diversions were in place at the important crossing connecting the IT hub of Sector V and New Town on one side, and north and south Kolkata on the other over the two weekends.
    The Supreme Court had, on March 23, pulled up the West Bengal government for "creating roadblocks" in the ongoing construction of the Kolkata Metro Railway project corridor, and asked it not to politicise a developmental issue which is beneficial for the common man.
    The Calcutta High Court had earlier expressed concern at the delay in the completion of the project, owing to the impasse over traffic block permission by the police, and directed that the work be completed by February 15, 2026.
    The issue of permission for the project, which even figured in the West Bengal assembly election campaign, was resolved with the new government granting the necessary go ahead immediately after taking office.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)