The mad rush for finishing at least a part of the third phase Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) before 2011 state assembly election is taking a heavy toll on Salt Lake, where the construction work is going on at full speed. The heavy earth moving equipment, deployed by the construction companies there, have been damaging the underground electricity cables causing power cut in the township on a regular basis.
The 33 KV line dedicated for Bhava Atomic Research Centre's (BARC) Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre at Salt Lake, which shares its campus with the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, has recently survived a major scare as another 33 KV line next to it got damaged because of the ongoing digging of the ground for the Metro Rail construction. According to the engineers of West Bengal State
Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL), who are trying repair the damages to the high tension underground lines, the extent of damage to the BARC line might be minor, but it runs the risk of getting damaged anytime.
The work of KMRC which connects Salt Lake's Sector V to Howrah station, has begun last year.
Once completed, it would have 5.7 km of elevated track in Salt Lake and 8 km underground track in Kolkata. KMRC is a joint venture of the Urban development ministry and the West Bengal government and the estimated cost of the project is Rs 4,676 crore.
The elevated portion is scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2012 and the entire project by October 31, 2014. Though nobody is willing to admit on record, the KMRC is under pressure from the Rail Bhavan to finish the elevated portion of the work at least 10 months ahead of schedule, around May 2011.
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The breakneck speed at which the work is going on at Salt Lake is already being felt by WBSEDCL, the agency responsible for distribution of electricity there.
According to WBSEDCL sources, from December 2009 till date, the agency has suffered major damages to their underground cable lines at 12 locations in Salt Lake.
The heavy duty excavators are being used to remove the upper soil. As a result one of the three sub stations dedicated to Salt Lake has become defunct as two main incoming cables were damaged beyond repair.
Another 33 KV line was so damaged that they had to replace it with a new line altogether. One engineer revealed that 10 days back, one main feeder line was damaged because of the construction work.
Incidentally, BARC's Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre is a premier R&D unit of the Department of Atomic Energy. This Centre carries out frontier research and development in the fields of Accelerator Science & Technology, Nuclear Science (Theoretical and Experimental), Material Science, Computer Science & Technology and in other relevant areas.
A junior scientist with Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics observes that any disruption of power supply to Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre for considerable time will cause major loss to important research there.
According the Executive Engineer of KMRC, "We are aware that the 33 KV dedicated line to BARC is lying there. We are trying to shift it from Sector V to Sector II along with other major feeder lines coming out of 132 KV sub-station there. We are taking all possible measures to protect it," he said. He conceded that the damages had been caused to underground cables by the construction work.
He assured, "We are in constant touch with the WBSEDCL officials. As and when the cables are damaged, the WBSEDCL staffs are repairing it and we are picking up the bills."