Twin suicides in the Metro - the first in its 30-year-history - disrupted services on Monday.

Kolkata: It is in common knowledge by now that promoters and individuals have a harrowing time negotiating with syndicates while constructing a building in the city or its periphery .But did you know the strongmen don't even spare public sector projects?

A senior official in Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), the implementing agency for the Joka-BBD Bag Metro corridor, said the organization has paid through its nose over the last several months to procure sand required in bulk to level ground for the Joka carshed.

"How much does sand cost? The normal price hovers at Rs 42-48 per cubic feet (cft). But in Kolkata, there seems to be no upper limit. We are forced to buy truckloads of sand at Rs 100-120 per cft. Mind you, we require thousands of truckloads for our work.Now, one can work out how much additional costs we have to bear. Some very influential people are involved in the racket and we can't get sand from elsewhere. For the last few days, the racketeers are lying low but we feel that things will be back to normal before long," the official said.

But such arm-twisting is not the only thing holding the project back.Officials are still unable to give any projected date of completion for this 18.73km long network that will be a boon for people living along the congested Diamond Harbour Road. One can gauge the progress by the fact that till March, 2015, only Rs 471.49 crore out of the total cost of Rs 2,913.50 crore could be spent. The project dates back to 2010-11, when Mamata Banerjee was the railway minister. Of the budget outlay of Rs 70 crore for 2015-16, only Rs 28.76 crore could be spent till January , 2016.

"When we took the matter up with a local leader, he just laughed. He told us that for a project of this size, a few lakhs here and there don't matter. In his opinion, such things happen in all states. It's just more in West Bengal as there are less job opportunities. When we approached the state administration, action was promised but within a few days contractors complained that supply had dried up. Nobody from elsewhere seemed ready to take the risk of supplying sand and rubbing the local syndicates the wrong way ," a Metro Railway official said.

There have been similar allegations even for projects like the GariaAirport link. Even the larger agencies have faced threats from syndicates.Here, the matter is not restricted to sand. Local heavyweights demand that contractors purchase all construction material from them. In some cases, there were demands for cash and jobs for locals at construction sites. Contractors working in the Noapara-Dakshineswar section have faced similar trouble as well.

"The argument is the same every where. There is a belief that contractors can afford to pay more because its a government contract. As it is, contractors are facing a tough time due to encroachment. How do they balance costs? There are stringent checks and low-quality material can't be used.Skilled labour can't be replaced by an unskilled workforce. In several cases, work has been stalled due to this. The state administration has had to step in and sort out matters before work could resume. We can only hope that things improve after the crackdown," the Metro official said.

