Kolkata, Jun 29 (IANS): Top West Bengal government officials and the Kolkata Metro Railway authorities, here on Monday, took up the resumption of the city's underground transportation services from the first week of July.

The meeting, held at the state secretariat Nabanno, was attended by Home Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay, Transport Secretary Prabhat Kumar Mishra, Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma and Barackpour Police Commissioner Manoj Verma. Kolkata Metro Railway's senior official Manoj Joshi and Chief Operating Officer Satyaki Nath also attended the meeting.

According to sources, they discussed the modalities of running the Metro services. The state government will now discuss the issue and certain technical aspects with the Railway Board.

On Friday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said Kolkata Metro services would be resumed from July 1 with 100 per cent seat occupancy policy, maintaining social distancing norms and proper sanitization protocol. "It would help daily commuters," she said.

Kolkata Metro sources said they were ready to resume services, but the real challenge was in following the social distancing guidelines. "We are waiting for the communication of decision taken at the meeting at Nabanno," Kolkata Metro spokesperson told IANS.