Majerhat design issues return to haunt Joka Metro

KOLKATA: Design issues of the proposed Majerhat bridge continue to plague the city’s biggest infrastructure project — the Joka-Esplanade Metro.

Work on the Metro project has remained suspended for over a fortnight since the state public works department (PWD) wrote to implementing agency Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) to temporarily suspend construction.

Last week, RVNL gave its ‘in-principle’ nod to the new design of the Majerhat bridge, despite a 1.2m protrusion cited in the General Arrangement Drawing.Having done so, RVNL assumed that the veto on Metro construction would be lifted.

But with the bar not being lifted, RVNL has written to PWD to know the exact period of the suspension and the reason for it. A copy of the letter has been sent to the railways, which must give the final nod to the design.

The state will formally approve the drawing only after all agencies, including the railways, agree to it.

A state official explained, “There is a 1.2m structure protruding into the stipulated 4m gap between the proposed bridge and Majerhat Metro station. We need to know how much work space is required for this structure — there are some other issues as well. Therefore, it’s difficult to give the nod for the Metro work at this point,” said the PWD official.

The proposed bridge is 22.4m wide now, to leave adequate gap (about 4m) between the upcoming bridge and the Metro station. RVNL stated that Metro work could not remain suspended indefinitely as it was accountable to the contractor, Gammon India, which had suffered earlier when work had to be stopped after the Majerhar bridge collapsed on September 4. Construction resumed in the last week of October, only to be stalled again in the third week of December.

“The design nitty-gritty of the bridge is yet to be sorted out. RVNL has sought to know how the 1.2m structural protruding on its side of the proposed Majerhat bridge would overlap with the Metro construction activity and if it can begin work, without hampering the scheme of things for the new Majerhat bridge,” an official said.

State officials admitted that RVNL’s questions needed to be answered for the final design approval from the railways. The state must share the stepby-step construction methodology with RVNL to allow it to continue with its Metro construction, for the final approval, they said.