Rejecting the Railways’ request for land to expand the metro line, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she will never allow the demolition of the skywalk connecting the famous Dakshineswar temple to the metro station.

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), in a letter to the state government in November last year, had sought permission to clear and relocate various existing structural utilities such as parts of the skywalk for the proposed extension of the metro viaduct beyond Dakshineswar station, which That was commissioned in 2021.

“They talk about religion and used to accuse me of not allowing Durga Puja in the state. They now want to demolish Dakshineswar Skywalk. This is his true nature. But I want to say clearly that I will not let that structure be removed till the last drop of my blood. I will not allow anyone to touch it,” Banerjee said while addressing a press conference.

“Dakshineshwar Skywalk is my dream project, and as long as I am alive, I will not let anyone lay a finger on it. We are ready to cooperate with the Railways. But if they try to demolish our heritage, I will not allow it,” she said, also referring to the railways’ demand for land on Alipore Body Guard Lines for the Joka-Esplanade metro project.

Banerjee said that despite the Railways sending the letter to the state government on November 20, she came to know about it only recently through a news report.

He directed the officials to immediately bring such letters to his notice in future.

RVNL submitted the proposal to the state government after Metro Railway Kolkata asked for expansion of the viaduct to achieve adequate signal overlap, which will allow smooth operation of trains between Dum Dum and Dakshineswar, which is a part of the North-South line. . ,

Metro Railway said that it does not want to comment on what the Chief Minister said.

Metro Railway spokesperson Kaushik Mitra said, “We never want the skywalk to be demolished.”

The Metro only wants some space at Dakshineswar to facilitate crossover of trains at the terminal station, he said.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)