The Joka-Esplanade Metro underground tunnel project is under way. To facilitate ramp construction, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) began moving utilities after Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL) widened a 400 m section of Diamond Harbour (DH) Road between Mominpore crossing and Mayurbhanj crossing.
RVNL has purchased property from the Command Hospital and moved its boundary wall five metres inward in order to enlarge the road. The officials provided feedback on the project by saying the remaining land would be turned over eventually. But the vital site that would serve as the starting point for the 1.1 km underground tunnel that will go to Kidderpore's St. Thomas School has not yet been purchased.
A KMC official mentioned that the utility shifting work had started in the available tranche, acknowledging that it would have been more convenient and cost-effective to have the entire stretch at their disposal. However, they were making allowances for the Metro project. According to a railway official, RVNL had been requesting KMC to commence work with the available tranche. The official explained that if someone were to wait for the acquisition of the entire length, the utility shifting would also be postponed. They mentioned that the shifting work for sewer and water lines would require more than a year to complete. Only after that would the construction of ramps and tunnels for the metro begin.
Beyond Mominpore, the Joka-Esplanade corridor—also known as the Purple Line—came up against a roadblock when KMC declined to reroute the water supply and subterranean sewage lines between Mominpore and Kidderpore unless suitable property was found.
The two sides have met at the KMC headquarters many times since then. The 14-kilometre project's implementer, RVNL, begged the municipal organisation to understand that it would take time to acquire the entire land lot, which sits below a brick sewerage pipe dating back to the British Empire.
The chief minister launched the Metro project in 2011, but it was immediately shelved due to a dispute between the security ministry and the railways, with work only allowed to begin between Majerhat and Joka. "
