Pavements closed, shops shut for East-West tunnelling

KOLKATA: Shops and pavement-stalls on the SN Banerjee Road-Jawaharlal Nehru Road crossing remained shut on Thursday for the East-West Metro tunnelling. The pavements on both sides of the road was barricaded as a preventive measure for the movement of the tunnel boring machine (

TBM

), which causes ground settlement as it burrows some 25m underground, and a 5ft-wide walkway was created along 100m of SN Banerjee Road. The restrictions will continue for the next four days till the tunnel borer passes this stretch.

The restrictions were supposed to be in place on Wednesday as TBM Chandi, which is burrowing the west-bound tunnel, was due to hit SN Banerjee Road on Thursday. However, it was slowed down to keep the pavements free for pedestrians on their way to Eden Gardens for an IPL match on Wednesday. The TBM will now reach SN Banerjee Road on Friday.

After the match crowd had dispersed on Wednesday, the traffic police allowed KMRC to block the pavements around midnight. A hawker who sells caps, 36-year-old Ansar Ahmed, said he was hoping the schedule would be further deferred and appeared downcast when he found the area out of bounds on Thursday morning. “First, we were told that we would have to stay away from this place from Wednesday. I was hoping the date would be pushed back again. So I came this morning to check things out,” he said.

“We have been asked to keep our shops closed till Sunday. That makes me poorer by Rs 3,000,” said the father of two who has been hawking in this area for the past decade. “But this is for a Metro project, so I guess it’s okay,” Ahmed added.

Md Sahabuddin, who’s sells garments and is losing Rs 3,000 a day, wondered, “Isn’t there a Metro line here already? What is this new Metro? Will we be compensated for the daily loss? Why should we suffer?”

Bhabatosh Jana, owner of Anadi Cabin, reasoned, “Everyone is incurring losses. But we should all be thankful that Kolkata is getting such a modern Metro project after so many years. We have closed during bandhs for a day, but this is the first time we wouldn’t be doing business over four days.”

Two crumbling houses owned by LIC, both more than 100 years old — have been evacuated and are being strengthened for the tunnelling. TBM Chandi will snake under them to build the west-bound tunnel. It’s twin, Urvi, will follow at a 50-metre gap to prevent excessive ground settlement, which can take place if the two machines are too close to each other.