More than 30 labourers and engineers involved in the 16 km E-W Metro Project will be donating Plasma for clinical trials at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) in the next few weeks. The last leg of the underground tunneling from BB Ganguly Street to Sealdah was stalled a fortnight ago as 60-odd workers got infected. Work, however, is progressing smoothly.
Two labourers from Bihar’s Siwan working on this section of the project donated plasma at CMCH last week at the behest of Afcons, the company contracted to build the 3.5 km Howrah Maidan-Esplanade stretch. Tunnelling for this part was over two years ago. Afcons is now completing the ventilation shaft at Strand Road and the three stations at Howrah Maidan, Howrah Station and Mahakaran.
Another construction company, ITD ITD-Cementation, is building the twin 2.45 km underground tunnels between Esplanade and Sealdah station. In mid-July, the company had to stop work because the entire team operating the tunnel boring machine tested positive. Fortunately, Afcons could continue the construction. The company has been routinely testing and isolating the 500 odd workers. Those who tested positive were isolated at Afcons’s casting yard in Howrah’s Shibpur.
“We are responding to the Bengal government’s plea for plasma donation. We have taken up various activities to help the authorities combat the pandemic in Bhutan, Bangladesh and Africa,” Satya Narayan Kanwar, project manager, Afcons. “More Afcons workers are lined up for plasma donation,” said Sandip Paul, scientist, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, which is collaborating for the plasma trial.
“We are proud of Subhnarayan and Nizamuddin (workers from Siwan in Bihar),” KMRC MD Manas Sarkar said.