Ranit Kr. Singh , Kolkata - The long-delayed girder construction to bridge a critical 366-meter gap on the Kolkata Metro’s Orange Line at the busy Chingrighata crossing was successfully completed on Monday morning. The project, which had been stalled since 2024 due to traffic permission disputes between local authorities and railway officials, was wrapped up over two consecutive weekends following final approvals. The 32-kilometer Orange Line is designed to connect southeast Kolkata’s New Garia station to the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport via the Sector-V IT hub.

The breakthrough came after extended legal battles that escalated all the way to the Supreme Court. In September 2025, the Calcutta High Court initially ordered stakeholders—including Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) and local police—to resolve the deadlock, later setting a completion deadline for February 15, 2026. After subsequent appeals by the state administration were dismissed by a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant in March, the necessary night traffic blockades were granted to execute the remaining span installations between piers 317 and 319.

Politicians quickly traded barbs over the resolution of the infrastructure bottleneck, which has delayed the transit line years past its original 2016–17 target date. Following the recent transition to a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) administration, party officials heavily criticized the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government's "obstinate attitude" regarding weekend traffic diversions. BJP leaders asserted that political obstruction, rather than technical issues, had been the primary obstacle keeping the vital commuter link incomplete for over two years.