Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) is a Government of India enterprise formed in 2008. The agency was formed to oversee the implementing

Kolkata Metro Line 2 Kolkata Metro Line 2, also known as the East-West Metro and Green Line, is a rapid transit line of the Kolkata Metro in the Indian state of West Bengal. It currently consists of an operational section between Salt Lake and Sealdah, and will ev ...

, also known as East West Metro, connecting the twin cities

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

and

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is ...

. The under construction metro rail route will be partly underground including the part that will be under the river

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

. The 16.6 km route will have six station each in underground and elevated portions. The terminal stations will be Salt Lake Sector V and the Howrah Maidan. The elevated stretch started operations on 13 February 2020.

Ownership

History

KMRC was formed as a joint venture company between two govt bodies, i.e.

Government of West Bengal The Government of West Bengal also known as the West Bengal Government, is the subnational government of the Indian state of West Bengal , created by the National Constitution as the state's legislative, executive and judicial authority. The ...

and

Government of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

on a 50-50 partnership basis. Ministry of Urban Development (now renamed as

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is a ministry of the Government of India with executive authority over the formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to the housing and urban development in Ind ...

) holds the shares on behalf of Govt. of India. On 29 September 2010, it was decided that Govt. of West Bengal will withdraw all its shares from KMRC, and Govt. of India will be the shareholder of KMRC along with

JICA The is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social growth in developing countries, and the promotion of international co ...

. Thus Govt. of West Bengal gave all its shares to the

Ministry of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructure ...

, and making Kolkata Metro a central government entity again.

Current status

The current shareholders are given below- * ''Ministry of Railways'' 74% (including the shares of Govt. of West Bengal) * ''Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs'' 26% As of 31 March 2017, equity holding details- * ''Ministry of Railways''– (68.03%) * ''Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs''– (31.97%)

Hurdles faced

The main problem that were faced by KMRC was regarding land. Most of the places, non-availability of land led to delay in the project multiple times. Some of them are mentioned below- * Land issue for construction of a new Central station for Line 2, thus leading to route realignment. * Land issue in Duttabad for erection of piers of elevated stretch, and leading to resurveying of the stretch by RITES * Land and rehabilitation issues in construction of Mahakaran station and so shifting the station location. Other issues were- * Delay in finalisation of the newly aligned route from

Sealdah Sealdah is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Etymology Jackals (''sheal'' in Bengali) howled around Sealdah. Antiquarians identify it as Shrigaldwipa (Jackal Island). Nearby Beliaghata w ...

. * Improper and irregular flow of funds * Traffic diversion related problems also led to delays

References

External links