Kolkata, July 11 : Amid a boycott by West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress public representatives, Union Minister Smriti Irani on Monday inaugurated the Sealdah station of Kolkata’s East-West Metro corridor, which would ensure a comfortable journey for suburban commuters to the IT hub of Salt Lake Sector 5.
The Union Minister of Women & Child Development and Minority Affairs inaugurated the station virtually from the Howrah Maidan Metro station, besides flagging off the extended Metro service from
Phoolbagan to Sealdah. The commercial services at the aesthetically designed Sealdah station would begin on Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion. Irani said the state’s development will be enhanced with the extension of the Metro services up to Sealdah, “the busiest railway station in Asia”.
Irani said while 72 lakh people in the state were receiving free ration from the central government’s scheme Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana for the past 25 months, 1.77 crore people receive clean
tap water at their homes under the Jal Jeevan Mission.
“Around 4.5 crore people have been benefitted through the Jan Dhan programme,” the minister said.
The extension of the metro up to Sealdah will immediately benefit around 35,000 commuters daily coming to Kolkata for their livelihood from adjoining districts of North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia. By 2025, around 1.83 lakh commuters are
expected to use the Sealdah Metro station daily.
A controversy erupted ahead of the programme with the Trinamool Congress accusing the Railways of “insulting” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by sending an invite to her at the last minute. Banerjee’s name was also missing in the invitation card for the event.
However, speaking to the media, Irani said even her name was also not there on the invitation card.
Metro sources claimed that the names of neither Banerjee nor state Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar were mentioned on the card, though they were invited.
Only the names of the local MP and the MLA were printed on the card, the sources said.
But local Lok Sabha member Sudip Bandopadhyay, city mayor Firhad Hakim and MLA Paresh Pal – all Trinamool leaders – skipped the programme over the delayed invitation to the Chief Minister, who left for a trip to North Bengal earlier in the day.
At the programme, Nakagawa Koichi, Consul General of Japan, expressed the hope that the inauguration of the Sealdah Metro Station will further, enhance the India-Japan relationship
With the metro route extended by 2.33 km on Monday from Phoolbagan to Sealdah at a cost of Rs.1250 crores, the 9-km stretch from Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah can now be covered within 21 minutes, an official said.
Arrangements have been made for passengers from Sealdah Main and Sealdah South sections of Eastern Railway to avail the Metro services with a seamless change over at Sealdah station.
The Aesthetically designed Sealdah station is replete with world-standard passenger amenities and safety features. Lifts, elevators, drinking water facilities, modern toilets, platform screen
doors and double discharge platforms have been provided at the station.
The foundation stone for the total 16.6 km East-West Metro corridor was laid in February 2009 by then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in presence of then Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The East-West Metro Corridor of Kolkata is a fully Central Government funded project, which will run from Salt Lake Sector V to Howrah Maidan, with 12 stations in-between.
A truncated corridor was inaugurated in February, 2020, with six stations. In October 2020, it was extended till Phoolbagan.
The whole project, scheduled to be completed by 2023, would connect the twin cities Howrah and Kolkata,
It will be the first time in India that a Metro corridor will run under a river, Hooghly, which is a construction marvel.
Kolkata earlier had the North-South corridor – the country’s first Metro – that was inaugurated in 1984.(UNI)