Metro line under river in Kolkata

The Centre on Thursday approved a Ks 4,676-crore Metro Rail link between Howrah and Salt Lake in Kolkata, part of which will run under the Hooghly river. Kolkata's 13.77-km east-west Metro corridor was approved by the Union Cabinet. Of the total distance, 8 km will be underground and 5.77 km elevated from Howrah to Salt Lake. It will be in two phases and will be completed in six-and-a-half-years.

The Union Cabinet gave its approval for implementation of the East-West Metro Corridor project, Kolkata, covering 13.77 km on standard gauge, from Howrah Station to Salt Lake Sector V at a cost of Rs 4,676 crores. The project is to be executed through a joint-venture company to be formed by the Central and the state government.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be constituted for successful execution of the project as well as its operation and maintenance. Such SPV will be a joint-venture company of the state government and the Centre. Equity participation of government of West Bengal and government of India will be on a 50:50 basis.

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Army may run Commonwealth Games

The armed forces may have a new civilian role to play to make the Commonwealth Games in 2010 a success. One section of the government believes that, given the tardy pace of creation of infrastructure for the Games, it is best to hand over the projects in the National Capital Region to the defence services.

This will be over and above their task of providing an air-land-water security blanket for the Games.

Home minister Shivraj Patil has proposed that the construction of major infrastructure projects, which have already suffered huge cost and time overruns, be handed over to the defence establishment.

A ministerial group on the Games, headed by human resources minister Arjun Singh, will take a view on the proposal at its next meeting in a fortnight. It is likely that the proposal will have the blessings of the Prime Minister's Office.

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