Kol: Eight buildings off Bypass come in way of Airport-New Garia Metro corridor

  • | Saturday | 16th March, 2019

KOLKATA: The Airport-New Garia Metro corridor has hit a fresh hurdle. RVNL is now waiting for KMDA to demolish the traffic guard and make way for pier 317. “The owners are aware that their buildings will be demolished, but some of them have appealed for higher compensation. Occupants of the eighth building have moved court because it was already there when the Metro alignment was notified in 2011. But the railways won’t have to provide land elsewhere to the owners.Officials said the compensation amount for the 24 claimants living in these buildings is currently pending with the Metro Railway’s Competent and Appellate Authority that awards land compensation.

KOLKATA: The Airport-New Garia Metro corridor has hit a fresh hurdle. Eight buildings opposite Captain Bheri on EM Bypass have come in the way of the project.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 of these eight structures, including a fourstorey building. Most of these buildings were built before the alignment was notified in October 2011.The buildings are located at Majherpara — a locality tucked behind the Dhapa lock-gate pumping station to the west of Chingrighata-EM Bypass crossing.Two of these buildings are single storey, two are double storey and one is a huge four-storey structure, covering six plots. There are three semi-pucca houses as well. The buildings fully or partially occupy 1,271 sqm or 18.98 cottahs — the space required to build piers 311 and 312 and the viaduct spanning 75 metres. Two of these plots are vested with the state government. Only, about 50 sqm is in RVNL’s possession now.Eviction for infrastructure projects has happened before in Kolkata. But this is the second time, that too for the same Metro project, where multiple buildings (up to four or five storeys) will have to be razed to clear the alignment.The New Garia-Airport line is one of the projects announced by Mamata Banerjee when she was the railway minister. The Rs 4,260-crore project, commissioned in 2012, has missed several deadlines. “This corridor has been hit with several land hurdles. This is the second stretch of the project that will now be stuck because of this kind of impasse,” a railways official said. Last year, seven structures, two of them high-rises, were razed to the ground to clear the Metro’s path at Mahisbathan. Occupants of the eighth building have moved court because it 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.But most of the structures at Majherpara are legal, because they were built before the project’s notification. RVNL served land acquisition notifications — on February 13, 2014 and again on September 21, 2016 — as per Section 10 of the Metro Railway (construction of work) Act, 1978, which allows compensation to project-affected persons. But the railways won’t have to provide land elsewhere to the owners.Officials said the compensation amount for the 24 claimants living in these buildings is currently pending with the Metro Railway’s Competent and Appellate Authority that awards land compensation. “The owners are aware that their buildings will be demolished, but some of them have appealed for higher compensation. It will take some time before the compensation amount for all claimants is sorted. So, RVNL will stop at this point — after they finish piling work for pier 10 — and move on to some other locations,” a Metro official said.“So, the gap of 75 metres between Dhapa lock-gate station and Majherpara will remain till the claimants accept the compensation,” said an official.The other hurdle for the project is the stretch in front of Beliaghata Traffic Guard at Chingrighata. The traffic guard has been shifted below Parama flyover. RVNL is now waiting for KMDA to demolish the traffic guard and make way for pier 317.

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