CM inaugurates 'Sampriti' flyover

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday inaugurated the elevated road flyover stretching from Jinjira Bazar to Batanagar through remote control from the Gangasagar camp grounds at Babughat. State Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim and Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee were present at Batanagar at the time of its unveiling.

"The flyover has been named 'Sampriti' to go with the spirit of unity in diversity that Bengal upholds. The flyover is 7 km long and the total cost has been Rs 250 crore," Banerjee said, assuring that repair work of the road running adjacent to the flyover is being undertaken on a war footing.

The Chief Minister said that at the time of construction of the flyover, there was an agreement between a private concern and Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) that toll tax will be imposed on the bridge. But following demands from the local people to waive such tax, the state government has decided not to impose any tax on two wheelers and four wheelers.

"We do not impose any such tax on our bridges and recently, we have also waived toll tax for two wheelers on Second Hooghly Bridge," Banerjee said. A senior KMDA official informed that there will be toll tax only on goods vehicles. The Chief Minister said that KMDA is planning to come up with four more flyovers in the city to speed up traffic movement and reduce congestion.

It may be mentioned that the Sampriti flyover is the first in the city to be built on PPP mode. The Centre has given 35 percent of the cost since this is a JNNURM project and the rest has been borne by the consortium of RiverBank Holdings and its joint venture partner L&T Dabriwala.

The flyover will reduce the travel time from Batanagar to Taratala to little more than 10 minutes from half-an-hour.

MP Abhishek Banerjee said that the 7 km road beside the flyover, which is not in good shape, will be repaired in a month's time and there will be no vehicular movement on the flyover until the road gets repaired.

Soucres in the Urban Development department said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has future plans of taking one flank of the flyover to Joka and another flank to connect Tollygunge Phari, Anwar Shah Road, Jadavpur and Garia.

"However, the extension plan will depend on the availability of funds," a KMDA official said.