Trinamul presents ring road plan

kolkata: eager to project a pro-development image, the trinamul congress is trying to push for an elevated ring road scheme for the city. trinamul mla and chairman of the subject committee for transport in the assembly, sadhan pande, recently presented the state government with a proposal for a 15-km elevated ring road stretch. this ring road will cover the old howrah bridge via strand bank road and baghbazar, over the circular and baghbazar canals and end at the em bypass near the nicco park crossing.pande has urged the government to immediately undertake a techno-economic feasibility test. the mla hopes that the government would be able to raise funds from hudco and other financial institutions. if the ring road plan materialises, it would greatly ease traffic congestion in north, central and east kolkata. there would be provision for link roads and flyovers near baghbazar bridge, arabinda setu and the manicktala railway bridge to connect the ring road with bt road, vip road and vivekananda road. the preliminary plan, presented to the chief minister with detailed engineering sketches, also bears the signatures of forward bloc and cpm mlas subrata bose and sudhangshu seal, trinamul mla paresh pal as well as former cmc chairman purnendu sengupta of the cpi and former mayor kamal bose. the trinamul image took a blow after party leader mamata banerjee's opposition to the eviction of encroachers from both sides of tolly's nullah — an essential step for extension of the metro network. since then, the party has been trying to undo the damage.