KOLKATA: A restaurant’s parking lot on the EM Bypass service road at Metropolitan has emerged as the latest stumbling block in the Rs 4,260-crore New Garia-Airport metro project.Construction of four piers — 286 to 289 — that will link the viaducts on which the Metro rail tracks are to be laid are held up because a crucial diversion of one flank of the Bypass has been held up by the imbroglio.“Work on the piers cannot begin until a 120-metre stretch of the main carriageway of the Ultadanga-bound flank is freed from traffic. To do so, a 300-metre stretch of service road needs to be constructed. This road will fork off from the Bypass ahead of pier 286 and rejoin it after pier 289. However, the service road can only be constructed once the parking lot is removed,” said an official.According to documents with TOI, Kolkata Police’s traffic department and Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) had last year asked Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) to build the 12-metre wide service road on the eastern side of EM Bypass from Byepass Dhaba to Captain Bheri for seamless flow of north-bound traffic. But the service road could not be built due to resistance from the restaurant management.Local councillor Jiban Saha, who owns Byepass Dhaba, says he has not received any official communication on vacating the parking lot. He, though, concedes he is aware of what’s going on. “I was present at a joint inspection for the proposed service road with police, KMDA and Metro officials,” he said.A KMDA official said Saha didn’t want to vacate the parking lot because once the service road is constructed, it would be difficult to reclaim the parking space. “The councillor has said he cannot part with the parking facility,” the official said. He, though, acknowledged the agency hasn’t written to the councillor.A railway official said neither Metro railway, nor RVNL, was supposed to deal with encroachment. “The onus is on the state government. We only deal with those with legal documents for compensation,” he said. DC traffic Santosh Pandey, however, is keen on a solution. “I don’t think a Metro construction can be held up like this. Let me find out,” said the officer, who took charge this January.

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