Kolkata Metro's northern journey

Those living on the northern fringes of Kolkata — particularly along BT Road — have a cause for cheer. Dakshineswar, Baranagar and Noapara have been formally included on the Metro Railway map. On Saturday, railway minister Mamata Banerjee laid the foundation stone for extension of the existing Metro network from Dum Dum to Dakshineswar. This stretch will be important in more ways than one. Apart from offering rapid and comfortable travel to commuters, Baranagar and Noapara will be the nodes from where further extension up to Barrackpore and Barasat will take place. “The stretch between Dakshineswar and Dum Dum will cost nearly Rs 600 crore. Since it is difficult to get such a huge sum cleared at one go, we decided to undertake the project in two phases. The first phase will be of 5.2 km between Dum Dum and Baranagar. I have already sanctioned Rs 237 crore for this. Work will start from both ends,” Mamata said. Phase-II will be between Dakshineswar and Baranagar. Even while construction of this stretch is in progress, surveys will be completed to connect Barrackpore to Baranagar and Barasat to Noapara via the Airport. The Baranagar Metro station will be named after Swami Vivekananda and Noapara will be called ‘Ma Sarada’, the railway minister said. The Dakshineswar Metro station will be named after Ramakrishna Paramahansa.