South 24 Parganas District Headquarters shift to Baruipur drives road extension

 THE TELEGRAPH, Issue Date: Thursday , November 20 , 2008

DEBASISH CHATTOPADHYAY

The Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has taken up a scheme to build a 12-km road from Garia to Baruipur as part of the plan to shift the district headquarters of South 24-Parganas. The four-lane road, which will link the EM Bypass to the proposed site of the district headquarters in Baruipur, will be laid in two phases. The headquarters is now based in Alipore. In the first phase, the road will extend from Garia to Kamalgazi, and in the next phase up to Baruipur. Land acquisition and alignment work for the road are complete. Local CPM parliamentarian Sujan Chakraborty, the CPM legislator from Baruipur, Rahul Ghosh, and senior officials of the CMDA surveyed the area before the road plan was finalised. The people’s representatives and the CMDA officials also decided to build six bridges across Tolly’s Nullah. The project cost for the road has been estimated at Rs 54 crore, which will be provided by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission Scheme under its Ganga Action Plan. “The new road will be vital after the headquarters is shifted to Baruipur,” said Chakraborty. The shift will see a spurt in construction in the small district town. “A healthcare hub and a technical college are among the immediate priorities. Once these projects and many more come up, traffic to and from Baruipur will increase manifold. The road has been planned keeping this in mind,” Chakraborty added. The thoroughfare will run on both sides of Tolly’s Nullah. The stretches along the banks will be beautified. “We also have plans to construct at least six bridges across Tolly’s Nullah in phases,” he added. The state environment department and the Union ministry of environment and forests have sanctioned Rs 24 crore for building the bridges and the beautification project. Chunar De, the chief engineer of the CMDA’s Ganga Action Plan sector, said: “We hope to finish work before the monsoon if everything goes according to plan.” P.B.Nag, the general secretary of Development Employees Joint Action Committee, said the project had been delayed by a year because of land acquisition problems.