The budget allocation includes a grant for two projects- Dum Dum airport to New Garia and Joka to Binoy Badal Dinesh (BBD) Bagh. Both projects will be executed under Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL).
In the recently announced Union Budget by the Ministry of Finance on 1 February, the Kolkata Metro received the highest budgetary allocation of Rs 2,550 crore for the fiscal year 2023-24.
The budget allocation includes a grant for two projects- Dum Dum airport to New Garia and Joka to Binoy Badal Dinesh (BBD) Bagh. Both projects will be executed under Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL).
Kolkata Metro is fully owned by and works under Indian Railways. It is the country’s first metro network.
For the Joka to Binoy Badal Dinesh Bagh Metro, the Railway Ministry has allocated Rs 1,350 crore for its purple line, much higher in comparison to the previously allocated budget of Rs 794 crore.
Presently, the metro line is operational between Joka to Taratala. PM Modi inaugurated the 6.5 km stretch on 30 December 2022 via video conferencing.
The stretch has been constructed at the expenditure of Rs 2,477.25 crore, from which Rs 635 crore has been spent for the Depot at Joka and nearly Rs 1,600 crore spent for the viaduct.
Similarly, for the Dum Dum airport to New Garia, also known as the Kavi Subhash project, an amount of Rs 1,200 crore has been allocated. In the previous year’s budget, it received an allocation of Rs 904 crore.
The 5.4 km stretch forms a part of Dumdum Airport via Rajarhat’s new Orange Metro line and has been constructed at an expense of Rs 1,550 crore.
