(Above): A stretch of the connector being levelled near Naskarpara, which is about two km from EM Bypass

The Prince Anwar Shah Road-EM Bypass connector, which was scheduled to have been commissioned at the beginning of the year, will not be ready before the Puja.

The construction of the connector started 10 years ago. The deadline has been postponed several times due to legal complications and slow progress of work.

Stalls line the two sides of the road at the western-end of the connector that starts near Jadavpur police station. Further down, shanties and khatals rub shoulders. The structures were once in the middle of the road, but were shifted when the construction work began. Buildings have started to come up on the plots bordering the path.

The traffic is thin because the road continues only till Naskarpara, which is a couple of kilometres from the Bypass.

(Top): The half-complete carriageway. (Above) The remnants of the Kalikapur orphanage, which will be reconstructed

The residents of the area complain that the progress is tardy. ?The labourers have been working on the same stretch for the past three months, yet it is only half-complete. There aren?t enough labourers to finish the work,? states Rabi Mondal, who lives in the area.

After work on the road is completed, a bridge has to be built over the canal that runs along EM Bypass.

?There has been a delay in the completion of the road. It should have been functional by now, but the work got deferred due to the Assembly elections,? says chief engineer (traffic and transport) of the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) Debdas Bhattacharya.

?There are several tenders that are supposed to be processed after all the phases of the election are over. We are targeting completion by the Puja,? Bhattacharya adds.

According to the CMDA officials, the illegal settlers along the route have not been rehabilitated. ?We have not given any land to anybody. However, following a directive of the high court, we are rehabilitating an orphanage that was demolished.?

(Pictures by Aranya Sen)