Somewhere in Kolkata....

The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) zeroed in on October 7, the Lakshmi Puja day , to resume work of the jinxed East-West Metro project. The agency finalized the date following Justice Nadira Patherya's suggestion to start work on an auspicious day .Justice Patherya had even suggested Mahasthami, but she changed her mind later since it would have been too early .
Calcutta high court on Thursday scrapped the state government's proposal to realign East-West Metro route and asked the KMRC to start work following the original alignment. Justice Patherya made it clear that the route will follow the old alignment -Howrah Maidan to Salt Lake via Howrah Station, Mahakaran, Central (Bowbazar), Sealdah, Phoolbagan, Salt Lake Stadium, Bengal Chemical, City Centre, Central Park, Karunamoyee and Sector V .
A closer scrutiny on the project reveals that the government’s insistence on the realignment has cost the project dearly. The project cost has jumped from Rs .,874 crore to nearly Rs.6,500 crore for a time lapse of more than one and a half years. Afcons, the joint venture firm entrusted with the work from Maidan to Central, has submitted a bill of extra expenditure to the tune of Rs.320 crore incurred during the no-work period. Two tunnel-boring machines (TBM) have also been lying unutilized in Sealdah for the uncertainty over alignment. According to sources, maintenance of the TBMs (there are four in total) requires Rs 2-3 lakh per machine per month. Ever since the realignment was proposed, agencies involved in the project raised objection as it would entail a cost escalation of around Rs.1,200 crore. JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), the principal funding agency for the project, agreed to lend up to Rs.2,531 crore of the Rs.4,874-crore project through a 20 year loan, bearing an annual interest rate of 1.2-1.4%. Started in July 2008, KMRC was to launch the first phase of the Metro link by the end of 2013. Its deadline was rescheduled to 2015 and the second phase a year later. But now, the dates have further been rescheduled to 2016 and 2017, respectively.
While giving its verdict for the original plan, Justice Patherya instructed the state government to shift an Indian Oil fuel pump from Brabourne Road for the construction of Mahakaran station. Indian Oil officials said that it had paid the government to relocate its pump to a larger space in Rajarhat.