Land lifeline for Dakshineswar stretch

KOLKATA: There is finally hope at the end of the tunnel for people waiting for Baranagar and Dakshineswar to be connected to the Metro network. The state government has taken the first step towards rehabilitation of squatters holding up work between Noapara and Dakshineswar. Land has been identified in the Kamarhati Municipality where 202 families will be relocated by the end of 2017.
“We have identified land that belongs to KMDA. The matter is now at the proposal stage after which it will be handed over to the Kamarhati Municipality. We shall follow the same model as the South Dum Dum Municipality, where Rs 30 crore was spent to rehabilitate people who are to be evicted. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is monitoring the process herself. This is the last hurdle for extension of the Metro network up to Dakshineswar and we hope to clear the land by December 31 this year,” said transport minister Suvendu Adhikari, who visited the area recently.
According to Metro officials, the commissioning date of the 4km stretch between Noapara and Dakshineswar will depend on when the land is finally handed over to the implementing agency. “We can’t set a deadline at the moment. If land is handed over in a phasewise manner, we can start work in stretches. If the entire plot is handed over in December, we will have to start work after that,” said Indrani Banerjee, CPRO, Metro Railway.
In 2016, after 148 families occupying a plot in Baranagar were relocated, Metro had hoped to commission the stretches up to Dakshineswar and the airport from Noapara by June, 2018. However, trouble started after 202 families from an illegal settlement known as Rajiv Nagar in the Kamarhati Municipality area refused to move to a plot selected for them. Some of them even moved court, claiming that the land they were being offered is unsuitable. Though encroachments along the Noapara-Airport stretch have been removed, the deadline was missed after the Airports Authority of India sought time to shift some utilities.
According to a Metro official, if work in a phase-wise manner in the Noapara-Dakshineswar stretch were to start soon, there is hope of it being commissioned some time in December, 2018, or January, 2019. The Noapara-Airport stretch is also likely to be commissioned then.