“Reddy was quite pleased with our proposed plans and has already spoken to the Prime Minister. He assured me that the proposal will be approved by the Centre after careful examination.” The KMC had initially decided to approach the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a Rs 5,000 crore grant.

“But later we decided to approach the National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM) for project funds. Had we taken the ADB grant, we would have to take another loan at 14 per cent interest, but there is no need to take a loan for the NURM grant. This brought down the total cost of the project to Rs 3,500 crore from Rs 5,000 crore,” said Bhattacharya.

NURM has asked KMC to carry out a detailed survey and then submit the project details to them.

“NURM will examine our proposal and check whether the scheme is technically and scientifically viable. They have assured us that if they find the scheme interesting, they will approve it,” added Bhattacharya.

According to the mayor, Reddy told him that he was personally more interested in such “developmental projects”.

Bhattacharya said: “He was enthusiastic about our proposal and said that it is always preferable to carry out such public interest works first instead of building flyovers and bridges.”

The renovation of the underground pipe lines will be done through the “trench cutting system”. This method allows no outward breaking down of roads.

Instead a hole is dug near the pipe line and a machine is inserted inside the ground. Bhattacharya said: “Our chief engineer is in South Africa at the moment trying to learn this method. It will be used in Kolkata later.”