Budget wait-&-watch for Metro: Green, Orange & Purple Lines get 20 cr more

Kolkata: The Orange Line (New Garia-Airport corridor) received Rs 705.5 crore, slightly less than the budgetary allocations of Rs 720 crore last year, and the Purple Line (Joka-Esplanade corridor) got a little more — Rs 906 crore against last year's Rs 901 crore. The Green Line (East-West) Metro, which is now operational along 16.6 km, was given Rs 529 crore against last year's Rs 500 crore.Officials said the rest of Kolkata's metro projects, including the Yellow Line (the 18 km Noapara-Barasat corridor, or the airport line), have been merged under various heads like the Sovereign Green Fund, and the absolute allocations are being worked out. "The funds will be released according to progress and will be revised once the bottlenecks are removed," a Railways official said.
Officials expected hefty allocations for the Orange and Purple lines — the 2 upcoming metro lines for the city to look forward to — now that the Green Line, or the Sector V-Howrah Maidan, which is India's first under-river metro, is fully operational. But the Chingrighata roadblock may have dissuaded the Centre from loosening its purse strings. Only 2 years ago, in the budgetary announcements for the 2024-25 fiscal, the 32 km Orange Line corridor received a whopping Rs 1,791.3 crore. In 2025-26, it received Rs 720 crore. "We used most of the 2024-25 allocations by readying 8.8 km beyond Ruby crossing till Sector V and hoping that the stretch would be commissioned in June 2025. But the last 366 m viaduct work at Chingrighata is stalled for a year," an official said. "If the Orange Line's Phase II is launched, 15 km of the 32 km corridor will be operational. Much of the viaduct along New Town is completed. Around 4 km of work and completing 2 or 3 stations are left," he said. The Purple Line's kitty is slightly heavier at Rs 906.6 crore, against last year's Rs 901 crore. Even as officials expected a substantial increase in funds (the mid-year revised allocation for the 14 km Joka-Esplanade corridor was around Rs 1,400 crore), the last 6-km stretch is in trouble because of 528 unauthorised shops at BC Roy Market, where the terminal Esplanade station is supposed to come up. In Dec 2025, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw flagged the hurdles for 20 km of metro lines around Kolkata, which he said were held up because of land issues and pending NOCs with the state govt.