The tunnelling work of the East-West Metro near Bowbazar, stopped after 14 workers tested positive for COVID-19, will resume next week. “Maintaining proper physical distancing norms, we will soon start East-West Metro construction work. It will start after six to seven days,” said a senior official of an official of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL).
The tunnelling work near Bowbazar was stopped on July 7 after 14 workers (labourers and supervisors involved in operating the tunnel-boring machine or TBM) were tested positive for COVID-19. While tunnel boring machine Chandi became redundant after hitting against an aquifer last year on August 31, its twin Urvi took up the task of burrowing the remaining portion covering a length of around 1.8km.
The path of the East-West Metro will be over ground from Sector V till Subhas Sarovar station and will then go underground. In the entire stretch, around 520 metres of tunnelling has been done underneath the river Hooghly.