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The expansion of the metro in Kolkata, which happens to be the country's first underground mass transit system and the lifeline of the city, is in jeopardy.
A drastic reduction in fund allocation in the Railway budget, coupled with land acquisition issues and non-cooperation from the state government, is threatening the future of the projects.
Former Railway minister, Mamata Banerjee, had announced as many as four projects that envisaged to add about 85 km to the existing 25.20 km metro network in the city. But with a budget allocation of Rs 475 crore for all four projects by the current Railway Minister, Pawan Bansal, as against a budget allocation of Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 4,000 crore respectively in 2011-12 and 2012-13, all the projects are now uncertain.
Although, the Trinamool Congress has squarely blamed the central government and accused of it of being “vindictive” after the pullout from UPAII, a reality check raises questions on the role of the West Bengal government.
More than funding, it is land acquisition issues and the state government’s non-cooperation that is posing as the biggest challenge for the Kolkata Metro expansion.
It is now almost certain that all the four projects New Garia-Airport, Noapara-Airport, Joka-BBD Bag, DumDum-Baranagar-Dakhineswar-Barrackpore will fail to meet the 2015-16 deadline with each of the four projects facing some problem or the other, mostly related to land.
“For the airport line, there was a delay in getting permission from the AAI. In fact, we had to change the original plan of an elevated track near the airport and now will have to go for underground construction. For the Joka-BBD bag route, we are in the process of getting approvals from the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Finance for some land owned by them around the Maidan and Alipore mint areas, respectively,” deputy general manager of Kolkata Metro, Protyush Ghosh, said.
Not just the Kolkata metro projects, the state’s non-cooperation is evident in the East West Metro project (Howrah-Salt Lake), of which the state is no longer a stake-holder.
After the state handed over its entire stake to Indian railways, it has now withdrawn its application from a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court pertaining to land acquisition on a certain stretch of the proposed Howrah-Salt Lake route. The state was defending the land acquisition done by it for the preoject in the court, but then suddenly made a U-turn, saying it was not ready to take the responsibility of the project.
“Since Trinamool Congress quit UPA, they are not willing to cooperate for land acquisition, which has been a hindrance to the projects,” Minister of state for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who also hails from the state, said.
He also defended the lower budget allocation. “What is point of higher allocation, if Kolkata Metro cannot use that because of state’s non-cooperation?” questioned Chowdhury.
“In 2010-11 and 2011-12 budget, Mamata Banerjee had allocated about Rs 10,000 crores. But we could not spend more than 20 per cent of the amount. As per the norm, the unutilised funds were re-appropriated in other projects by the Railway board,” a top Railway official said.
While the Railways and the state government slug it out, the city continues to bear the brunt. Since the Kolkata metro became a reality on October 24, 1984, the city has expanded a lot but the “lifeline” has failed to keep pace with the city’s growth.
