Calcutta HC ruling breather in Metro hurdle, key stretch may be free in 6 months

KOLKATA: The Majherpara site off EM Bypass, where the New Garia-Airport Metro corridor construction is stuck because of eight structures, is expected to be cleared in the next six months.


Railway officials, who are dealing with the compensation pleas of those living in the houses, are banking on a recent Calcutta High Court directive, ruling out project-affected-persons (PAPs) getting interest on the compensation dues in retrospection, in addition to market value of their properties and a solatium.

“The court has said that the PAPs will only be entitled to interest if railways default on payment after getting possession of a plot. We are given to understand that the occupants of the eight houses would accept the court’s directive and move out,” said an official. Apparently, the 24 claimants, who live in the eight houses where two piers — 311 and 312 — are supposed to come up, have been seeking interest from the date of notification in September 2016.

Since last October, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), the agency implementing the 32km Metro link, has managed to build nearly 200 metres of viaduct — from piers 302 to 309 — opposite Captain Bheri. They are now stuck at this point because the eight structures, including a four-storey building, stand on the project path. Most of them were built before the alignment was notified in October 2011. Hence, the occupants are entitled to compensation under Section 10 of the Metro Railway (construction of work) Act, 1978.

This is the second time that the New Garia-Airport link is facing hurdles as multiple buildings (some up to four or five storeys) must be razed to clear the alignment. The Rs 4,260-crore project, commissioned in 2012, has missed several deadlines because of land-related hurdles. Last year, seven structures, two of them high-rises, were pulled down to clear the Metro’s path at Mahisbathan. Flat owners of the eighth high-rise have moved court because the structure was already there when the Metro alignment was notified in 2011. The imbroglio has prevented construction of 1.45km of viaduct at the entry point of New Town.

Officials are optimistic that the hurdle at Majherpara will not turn out to be a prolonged pain for the project because the bone of contention — interest payment in retrospection — has been sorted out. They are hopeful that the six plots covering 19 cottahs, opposite Captain Bheri off EM Bypass, should be available in six months or so, following which the buildings will be demolished and the gap between piers on either side of EM Bypass at Chingrighata bridged.

Asked why the Metro alignment was drawn along this complicated stretch, an official said more houses, at least 50, located at Shantinagar and Sukantanagar would have been demolished had the viaduct been built along Captain Bheri on the eastern flank of EM Bypass and then on to Salt Lake Bypass.