Kolkata, Apr 23 (Reporter) Some 4.5 lac commuters have travelled through the underwater stretch of Green Line in 17 days since the commercial operation began on March 15 connecting this metropolis with Howrah, the other part of River Hooghly, Kolkata Metro Railway source said on Tuesday. The loco engineering marvel, connecting Esplanade in the eastern part of Hooghly, the hub of this over 300-year-old city with industrial Howrah in the western part, has been a hit from mid-March, barely nine days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the maiden ride with the Metro workers and school students on March 6. Using the interchanging station at Esplanade, passengers from Kavi Subhash, Kalighat, Dum Dum and Dakshineswar have now been easily availing Green Line 2 services to reach places like Howrah, Howrah Maidan and Mahakaran (Writers' Buildings, formerly the state secretariat), Metro Railway spokesman Kausik Mitra said. " This interconnection of Blue Line and Green Line has saved the time of these passengers and also has been offering smooth and hiccup free services to the passengers coming from the far-flung areas of South and North 24 Parganas,Hooghly etc. Out of these 4.5 lakh passengers, 2.32 lakh passengers have terminated their journey at Esplanade from different stations of Blue Line, " he clarified. In order to make this interchange smoother and more flexible, queue managers have been installed at Esplanade Metro station to ensure seamless interchange of passengers between Old Esplanade station (Blue Line) and New Esplanade station (Green Line 2). These allow all passengers to move freely. Strategic installation of these queue managers has also eliminated the possibility of mixing Green Line 2 and Blue Line bound passengers. This along with numerous banners and stickers already put in place have immensely benefited the passengers to find their suitable entry/exit points, escalators as well as trains smoothly. Metro staff and RPF personnel have been working in tandem to ensure free and fast interchange of passengers at Esplanade, specially during the peak hours. Meanwhile, construction work of the underground Mominpur -Esplanade stretch of Joka-Esplanade Metro Corridor (Purple Line) got underway. In order to construct this stretch, a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) will be used to burrow the tunnels, Mitra added. For tunnelling the first stretch from Kidderpore to Victoria station, TBM will start working from inside the premises of St. Thomas School at Khidderpore. For this, a launching shaft is required whose construction work at St. Thomas School is going o­n at present. Once this work is completed, TBM will start functioning to burrow the underground tunnels. The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), the executing agency, has already got the clearance certificate from West Bengal Forest Department to plant 145 new trees at Joka Metro Railway Depot in lieu of 28 trees at the site of Victoria station. The RVNL has already planted these trees at Joka Depot. At present, this agency is waiting for the NOC from the Forest Department for transplantation of these 28 trees. It is expected that this NOC will be obtained shortly. For construction of Park Street station of this stretch, Calcutta Police Club, Calcutta Kennel Club and Rajasthan Club will be relocated temporarily outside the construction zone. For the normal operation of these clubs during the construction period, porta-type containers in the adjacent vacant land will be provided. Five such containers have already been installed o­n the adjacent vacant land at Park Street. Rest of the containers will be installed shortly. For the construction of Esplanade Metro station, Kolkata Mounted Police Paddock will be relocated temporarily to Saheed Minar Maidan. No Objection Certificate from the Defence Authority has already been obtained. For the construction of proposed Esplanade station, Manohardas Tarag at Esplanade will be dewatered to pave the way for construction of tunnels below it with the help of Cut and Cover Method. o­nce the construction is over, this famous waterbody of Kolkata will be reinstated. Public Works Department has already handed over this waterbody to RVNL for this project...////...