KOLKATA: A change in the heart of the City of Joy? Well, it has already started.
The Esplanade area is undergoing significant transformation to accommodate the Purple Line’s Joka-Esplanade Metro terminal station. Approximately 250-metre of Dufferin Road will be blocked, and an alternative stretch will be carved out of the long-distance bus stand in the same complex next to Rani Rashmoni Avenue.
The existing bus stand will be dismantled, and hawkers will be relocated, transforming Kolkata’s bustling commercial district, which dates back to the British era, into a more organized space in next three to four years.
The makeover has already started.
A part of the area, known to most by the other moniker – Dharmatala – already looks different because of the sprawling East-West Metro station opposite the LIC Building.
One can barely trace the historic tram tracks that once characterized the area. The street cars no longer roll out. The East-West Metro (Green Line) has an interchange with the North-South (Blue) Line beneath JL Nehru Road at Esplanade.
Further modifications are on the cards to ensure that the Purple Line travels underground from Kidderpore and terminates at Esplanade, emerging as the third Metro line to complete the much-awaited Metro hub.
The BC Roy Market, next to one of the entrances of the North-South Line’s Esplanade station, will soon be demolished.
In the next eight months, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) will build a temporary market at the Kolkata Mounted Police grounds. RVNL is implementing the 14km Joka-Esplanade corridor, currently operating 8km from Joka to Majerhat, with 3km of the 5km underground section traversing the Maidan.
The Army is the custodian of the Maidan, considered the city’s lungs, spanning across the racecourse and the Esplanade.
The market, also known as Bidhan market, has been considered by city planners and the state urban development department the biggest eyesore of the city’s heart. It will be permanently reconstructed above the Purple Line’s Esplanade station in three years and will return in a modern avatar.
“The diaphragm or D-wall (underground boundary wall) of the 300m x 40m Esplanade station box starts from the Mounted Police paddock (already shifted near Shahid Minar) and ends at L20 bus (soon to be moved out to Curzon Park), via Dufferin Road,” a railways official said.
“A 250-metre stretch of Dufferin Road from Dorina Crossing, parallel to the existing BC Roy Market, will be required for the station construction,” he said.
Several sections of Esplanade have already been barricaded, including Mahohar Das Tarag, where the Purple Line’s crossover will be constructed. The mammoth reservoir has been drained, and excavation has begun. The water body will be restored with enhanced features post-construction.
RVNL officials and those from the state agencies are currently concentrating on the acquisition of Dufferin Road, L20 bus stand and the parking area for private long-distance buses. An inspection by all stakeholders was conducted recently.
“Dufferin Road will be diverted through the location where the long-distance buses are now parked. While the L20 bus stand’s relocation site has been identified as it belongs to the state transport department, there are no plans of allotting a space to private buses. Anyway, there are high court and apex court orders to shift all buses from the surface of Esplanade RITES is preparing a detailed project report for the proposed Esplanade transport hub, which will incorporate the three Metro stations and. underground parking lots for around 150 buses, plus a shopping plaza,” a state government official said.
BC Roy Market falls in the center of the station box. One end of the box is at the Mounted Police paddock and the other at the pavement next to Dorina Crossing.
“The crossing will be shifted a few meters away, beyond the boundary of the L20 bus stand. When the new Dufferin Road is built, cars and buses will be diverted through it to ensure smooth traffic flow up to Mayo Road,” another official said. .
The historic Kidderpore Club, established in 1917 and currently squeezed between the market and entrance to the North-South Metro station, will relocate to a steel container on the Maidan near Park Street. It will join other Maidan clubs displaced by the Purple Line’s underground station construction.
“Shifting of the Kidderpore Club will begin shortly, following which the existing structure will be dismantled,” the official added.
