Kolkata: State Chief Secretary Malay De on Friday chaired a high-level meeting at Nabanna with senior officials of the state government and those associated with the ongoing Metro projects in the city, to fast-track the progress of work. It was decided in the meeting that the proposed Metro project from Kolkata Airport to New Barrackpore in the alignment of Airport-Barasat Metro project, will be underground. The state has assured the Metro authorities of necessary assistance in making land available for the project. It was December last year when the Railway Board had given the nod for the stalled Airport-Barasat Metro project. Sources said Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) officials in the meeting pointed out that they need land beside Jessore Road for the project. However, the state informed them that it was not possible to allocate land there. So, it was decided instead that it will be underground from Airport to BT College and then go up to New Barrackpore via Doltala. A total stretch of 7 km will be underground. At present, Metro runs underground from Dum Dum to Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Tollygunge), while the Phoolbagan to Howrah Maidan flank in the proposed East-West Metro is also slated to be underground. RVNL, which is executing the New Garia-Airport Metro project, pointed out the issue of land problem near Chingrighata on EM Bypass, which is a highly populated area. It was proposed that the route can be realigned a bit to tackle the problem. De has formed a committee led by state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Principal Secretary Subrata Gupta, to look into the matter and come out with a solution. The state informed RVNL that the extension from Majerhat to BBD Bag of the proposed Joka-BBD Bag project has already got the nod of the Centre. The nod for Joka–Majerhat had been received much earlier. However there are some land issues plaguing the project. Kolkata Municipal Commissioner Khalil Ahmed has been asked to take up the matter. Apart from De, state Home secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay was also present in the meeting, where the intervention of the state in clearing roadblocks in the various Metro projects was discussed at length.

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