Kolkata: Brabourne Road to remain closed for next 3 days for East-West metro tunneling works

"As the KMRCL will carry on with East-West metro tunneling work under Brabourne Road flyover from tonight, citing security concerns for the commuters, Brabourne Road will remain closed from tonight midnight (12 am.) to Tuesday (July 11) early morning (6 am) to traffic," a senior official of Kolkata Traffic Police told IBNS.  

"Traffic police will take steps to ensure smooth traffic movement around the area during the closure period," the official added.

According to a media release published by city's traffic police: "From Friday midnight to Tuesday early morning, Brabourne Road will be closed to traffic and Strand Road would be both bound."

"South Kolkata bound private cars and taxis coming from Howrah will be diverted via Vidyasagar Setu by Howrah Police. Buses & Mini buses of South Howrah Region will have to avail Vidyasagar Setu both for up & down journeys," the press note further read.

Meanwhile, tram services will be suspended along M.G. Road, Strand Road, Rabindra Sarani and B.B. Ganguly Street while car parking will be restricted at several locations around Brabourne Road, including few areas of Strand Road, Fairly Place, Netaji Subhas Road, India Exchange Place, Canning Street, M.G. Road and underneath the Brabourne Road flyover.

Police also said that several private buses, including route no. 55, 55-A, 59, 73, 75 and 57, and minibuses, including route no. 8, 6, 6-A, 18, 27 and 38, will be diverted via Vidyasagar Setu (2nd Hooghly Bridge), instead of Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu) during this period.

Meanwhile, five workers of East-West metro project's construction firm, AFCONS, were reportedly injured after an iron frame collapsed on them during construction works near Howrah railway station on Friday morning.

Five staffers of the construction company, Chandan Das, Alokesh Maity, Buddhadeb Pal, Sujesh Bhattacharya and Gurupada Patra, were rushed to a private hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Meanwhile, officials from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said that residents of few old houses on Brabourne Road have been evacuated from the area to avoid any accident during the underground construction works for East-West metro.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)