WB: Funds push for Dum-Dum airport and Joka metros

• The Joka-Esplanade and New Garia-Airport Metro corridors, which got just Rs 350 crore each earlier, could be allocated Rs 1,350 crore and Rs 1,200 crore each in the new fiscal
• The lion's share would have been allocated to Kolkata's Line 2 or the E-W Metro, connecting Sector V to Howrah Maidan to become India's first underwater metro
• The progress could be the reason for the higher allocation, according to officials

The Joka-Esplanade and New Garia-Airport Metro corridors, which got just Rs 350 crore each last year, could be allocated a whopping Rs 1,350 crore and Rs 1,200 crore respectively in the new fiscal. This will possibly be the highest allocation for an individual metro project in Kolkata in recent memory.

The official breakdown of urban metro or zonal railway projects of the Rs 2.4 crore earmarked for Indian Railways in Wednesday's Union Budget is expected to be available on Friday when the Railway Ministry's Pink Book or comprehensive allocation for asset acquisition, construction and is expected to, that compensation will be released for the new financial year.

On Thursday, Metro Railway officials were tight-lipped about the allocations. But railway insiders revealed that the 14-km Joka-Esplanade corridor, which fetched Rs 350 crore last year (down Rs 75 crore from the year before), may fetch Rs 1,350 crore this time. Not far behind the purple line could be the orange line or the 32 km New Garia-Airport project, which also got Rs 350 crore last year (Rs 80 crore less than 2021-22). Its allocation is expected to be Rs 1,200 crore for fiscal 2023-24.

On 30 December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated Kolkata's third metro or the shortened 6.7 km section of the Joka-Taratala Purple Line (Joka-Esplanade Corridor). Sources said he could be physically here to flag off the shortened Orange Line - covering 5.4 km between Kavi Subhas Terminal (New Garia) and Hemanta Mukherjee Station (Ruby Crossing) in the next few weeks. The funds for the third and fourth metro lines in Kolkata in the Union Budget have made them priority projects.

Until now, the lion's share would have been allocated to Kolkata's Line 2 or the East-West Metro, which would eventually connect Sector V to Howrah Maidan to become India's first underwater metro. However, this time the East-West Metro may have been given Rs 1,000 crore as against last year's Rs 1,100 crore. Although the metro at the Joka-Taratala and New Garia-Ruby crossing runs in a single train system, without signals, and runs up and down the line along the line, without automatic signaling, an advanced communication-based train control system (CBTC) will be installed next year .

An RVNL official said, "For the Joka-Esplanade project, we are trying to open another stop - Majerhat - at Pujas. After years of waiting due to court matters, tenders have also been floated for the underground section from Mominpore." We are trying to complete the New Garia-Airport line beyond Ruby quickly by 2025.” The progress could be the reason for the higher allocation, according to officials.