The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has issued the No-Objection Certificate to relocate two major underground water mains beneath BT Road, clearing the single obstacle that had stalled the Baranagar–Barrackpore Metro corridor since it was first sanctioned in 2010.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has issued a No-Objection Certificate to relocate major underground water-transmission pipelines beneath BT Road (Barrackpore Trunk Road), clearing the last major obstacle blocking construction of the Baranagar–Barrackpore Metro corridor. KMC Commissioner Smita Pandey communicated the approval to the General Manager (Projects) of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), the agency executing the project. The 12.3-km elevated corridor, part of Kolkata Metro's Pink Line and running through 10 stations, had been effectively stuck since it was first sanctioned in 2010 — with the pipelines beneath the alignment as the single biggest reason it never broke ground.
Why six water pipes held up a metro line for 15 years
The blockage was literal: two major water mains — reportedly 60-inch and 42-inch pipes — plus four smaller lines run directly beneath the planned BT Road alignment, carrying treated water from the Palta Water Treatment Plant to the Tallah reservoir, which supplies large parts of North, Central, and South Kolkata. Any viaduct construction risked damaging a water supply relied on by millions, so the project sat waiting on a civic-utility fix rather than a funding or design problem. Under the NOC, KMC and RVNL have agreed to shut the existing six pipelines and replace them with larger 72-inch pipes before viaduct work begins — a sequencing that lets construction proceed without cutting off the water supply.
The tender is already out — a pre-bid meeting was set for today
RVNL had floated a roughly ₹1,587-crore e-tender on July 29, 2026 for the viaduct and 10 elevated stations along the corridor, anticipating this approval; a pre-bid meeting for that tender was scheduled for August 25, 2026 — the same day the NOC news broke — meaning the clearance arrives right as bidders are being briefed on the actual construction work. KMC and Metro Railway officials had met in late May 2026 to negotiate the pipeline relocation plan that finally produced this sign-off.
What it's worth to Kolkata
The corridor was originally sanctioned in 2010, when Mamata Banerjee was the Union Railway Minister, at an estimated cost of around ₹2,069 crore — a project older than several fully-operational Namma Metro lines here in Bengaluru. Once built, it will extend the Pink Line from Baranagar (already connected to the Noapara interchange) north to Barrackpore, giving one of Kolkata's more congested northern suburbs — currently reliant on BT Road traffic and Eastern Railway suburban trains — a direct elevated metro link. For a corridor that has spent a decade and a half as a line on a map, a signed NOC for six pipes is a small-sounding milestone with an outsized effect: it's the difference between a sanctioned project and a project that can actually start pouring concrete.
Sources
- Swarajya — "Kolkata's 15-Year-Stalled Baranagar–Barrackpore Metro Project Cleared After KMC Resolves Pipeline Deadlock"
- IndiaBlooms — "Kolkata Metro expansion: KMC clears long-stalled Baranagar–Barrackpore corridor after 15 years"
- MetroRailNews — RVNL ₹1,587-crore Baranagar–Barrackpore viaduct tender coverage (July 2026)