Civic Problems in Kolkata

People alleged that they are often stuck on the road during traffic jams due to the poor traffic management by police. The number of accidents have not reduced either. The automatic signaling system was inaugurated by the police a few months ago at Batarmore near Bongaon in North 24-Parganas, but there is still chaos on the road of Bongaon due to the erratic parking of van-rickshaw, trucks, buses and other vehicles. The police hardly take any action against the owners of these vehicles as they fear the local political unions.

Earlier, the police used to generate awareness amongst the drivers of motor vehicles as well as van-rickshaw pullers on how to obey the automatic traffic signal rule for smooth operation of traffic, but it barely yielded any results.
Every year during the traffic safety week the police hold camps to teach the van-rickshaw pullers, cyclists, motorcycle owners and rickshaw pullers about how they could assist the police by obeying the traffic rules and regulations.

However, drivers and riders followed the rules for a few days and then they all forgot about it.
A senior police officer, however, claimed that after installing the automatic traffic signal, traffic jams have reduced. But local people alleged that road accidents have not reduced and it is especially frequent on Jessore Road.

This road is also very important for international transportation as Bongaon is the only land port in West Bengal. Trucks that carry goods for Bangladesh have to wait for many hours on the road. More than 85 people died in road accidents on Jessore Road in between Bongaon and Barasat during the past two years. In maximum number of cases, rash driving is the main reason for these deaths.

Kankurgachhi

What we saw: Almost a third of the stretch between Kankurgachhi and Ultadanga has been earmarked as a permanent bus bay. Most drivers, however, ignore the 500-m long channel. With the effective width of the carriageway reduced, bottlenecks are common, especially near Hudco crossing.

Some restaurants on the stretch park vehicles used for home delivery in the bay. Trucks also park in the bay to deliver goods to roadside shops.

Bus drivers claim that using the bay slows them down and results in loss of revenue. “Buses can only move in a single file down the bay. While a bus is stuck in it, another plying on the same route can skip the bay and take away all the passengers,” said a driver on a BBD Bag-Birati bus route.

Police voice: “We deal severely with drivers not using the bay and slap hefty fines on them. But when there is no sergeant in the vicinity, they disobey rules,” said a sergeant on duty at Hudco crossing.

Where: Portuguese Church

What we saw: The church on Portuguese Church Street is surrounded by parked cars, taxis and cycle vans, which perpetually block both entrances to the shrine compound. Those who visit the church have no option but park their cars far away.

When approached by Metro, one of the linemen in charge of parking admitted that the practice was illegal. "The place is not being declared a parking zone because of the church. But vehicles are allowed to be parked here against a monthly payment to the sergeants of the local traffic guard," said the lineman.

CMC version: "The Calcutta Municipal Corporation does not give permission for parking in front of schools, hospitals and places of worship. If vehicles are being parked illegally, police should take action and remove them," said Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, the mayoral council member, parking.

Church version: "We have lodged many complaints with the civic authorities and the local police station, but parking still continues. Local goons, helped by the sergeants of the Headquarters traffic guard, are responsible for this. The devotees face problems, as they have to park their cars far away from the church," said an official who did not want to be named.

Where: Saifee Masjid and Jain Vidyalaya

What we saw: The entrances to the mosque and the school, on either side of Brabourne Road, are blocked by parked vehicles -- two-wheelers, cars, cycle vans and small goods -- that eat up half of each plank.

Civic version: "Police should remove the vehicles," said Khan.

School version: "A mishap may occur any time as vehicles rush down the road. Several applications have been sent to the traffic department but the situation has not improved," said a senior teacher of the school.

Where: Headquarters Traffic Guard at 32A Brabourne Road

What we saw: Not more than 25 vehicles are allowed to be parked on the stretch in a single line. But vehicles, many more than the stipulated number, are parked here in two or three lines, while the custodians of the law look the other way.

"We have to buy the cops' silence. If we default on the monthly payment, they impound the cars," said a member of the Pioneer Co-operative Parking, which looks after the stretch.

Official version: The sergeants of the traffic guard refused to speak.

Localspeak: "Who should we turn to? Both the police and the CMC make money from this illegal practice," said a local shopkeeper.

The LPG they use is diverted from cylinders for subsidised domestic supply. Such autos are creeping into city areas as well.

Chapal Banerjee, who is in charge of the Regional Transport Authority, Barasat, said: "Many domestic cylinders are ending up with the autos. There is a nexus between auto owners and gas cylinder dealers in the region."

Banerjee admitted that even though his department did catch a few, the practice continued to flourish.

This raises the tantalising possibility that auto owners could one day achieve illegally what they would not do legally, if the government can ensure clandestine supply of subsidised cooking gas cylinders for all such vehicles.

The term EMS is used to refer to the immediate emergency and trauma care rendered during the time taken to reach the hospital. Barring a few, most of the city's ambulances lack infrastructure and trained personnel to provide EMS.

"For a year now, we have been publishing advertisments inviting private agencies to join us in providing better-equipped ambulance services, but there has been no response," said Sanchita Bakshi, Director of Health Services, West Bengal.

At present, the state health department has 135 ambulances, of which only two can provide emergency medical care. The rest are equipped only with oxygen.

There are ambulances provided by non-governmental organisations catering to government hospitals. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation, too, operates a few ambulances but none are equipped to tackle emergencies.

What we saw: Trucks are parked on both sides of the street, blocking the entrances to residential buildings. Over 30 transport companies have mushroomed in Posta and on Sir Hariram Goenka Street. As a result, trucks move in and out of the area 24x7. Loading and unloading of goods disrupt traffic during the day. At night, the sound of trucks keeps the residents awake.

Official word: Local councillor Meena Devi Purohit was not available for comment.

Resident's voice: "Meena Devi Purohit has won from this ward four consecutive times but she has been a failure in terms of delivering results. We are being denied even the most basic facilities. Can't the councillor see what the residents of her ward are going through?" Narayan Sharma, a businessman.

Jamunalal Bajaj Street
Maharshi Debendra Road

The civic authorities have decided to make multi-level car parking a mandatory condition for commercial complexes to begin with before extending it to high-rise residential buildings.

Now there are only two multi-level parking plazas in the city at the Park Street-end of Rawdon Street and under Lindsay Street. Both are owned by the municipal corporation.

“The solution to the parking problem lies in multi-level facilities,” said Dipankar De, the mayoral council member (building).

The building department is drawing up incentive packages for realtors, developers and owners of existing commercial buildings to make them interested in constructing parking areas.

Policing
The connector has only one traffic light, at the Jadavpur police station crossing. The crossings at Sapuipara and near Kalikapur, on the Bypass, are manned by two policemen who do little to control unruly motorists and pedestrians. Residents say these two crossings and the 11 lanes on either side of the stretch are the cause of most accidents and traffic snarls on the connector.

The sergeant on duty blamed the increase in traffic for the chaos. "Vehicles that previously took the Santoshpur and Kasba connectors are now using this thoroughfare. Also, the stretch is so curvy near the Jadavpur police station that it is hard to assess the number of vehicles on the road at a time. Snarls are regular."

With Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) and the railways busy repairing the bridge, it has been closed to traffic by Kolkata Police. Vehicles that normally take the flyover on their way to or from Beliaghata Main Road now prefer to drive straight across the flyover, creating traffic snarls.

Thousands of commuters, who cross the flyover every day, are facing tremendous inconvenience. "It takes nearly 20-25 minutes to cross the flyover and reach Moulali from Sealdah," said a daily commuter. The three-point junction at the centre of the flyover is the most congested with bumper-to-bumper traffic.

TODAY'S PAIN, TOMORROW'S PAIN: A long queue of traffic has become a regular feature on Sealdah flyover after repair work (below) began on Convent bridge

Many vehicles from Beliaghata are avoiding the flyover to reach SN Banerjee Road or Creek Row by taking the route below the flyover along Bipin Behari Road. So, this road, too, has become congested.

Many taxi owners carry faulty meters and have not installed the electronic meters yet, forcing passengers to cough up more than the actual fare.

Dibyendu Acherjee, a commuter, said since the meters are tampered with, taxi drivers refuse to show the fare card. "It is difficult to get a taxi at night and even if we manage to find one, drivers charge exorbitantly," he said.

Bimal Guha, general secretary of the Bengal Taxi Association(BTA), said new taxis would have electronic meters with printers to provide commuters with all the details including name of the taxi owner, registration number, fare, distance travelled and a complaint number. He, however, could not tell when these would be installed in the taxis.

"We have decided to go for a shutdown from June 30 to July 2 as a protest against the Indian Oil officials who are pressurising us to purchase branded petrol and diesel. If buying branded oil is forcibly made compulsory, then we will have to pay Rs.4 per litre extra for petrol and Rs.3 per litre for diesel.

"As it is, petroleum prices have increased and dealing in branded products will affect not only us but also the customers who will have to pay higher charges," said association secretary Jaydev Sarkar Thursday night.

Indian Oil officials were not available to comment on the issue.

Knocked down by a truck at the Narkeldanga Main Road-Canal East Road crossing around 10.10pm on Sunday, Hamida Khatoon, 62, was bleeding profusely when she was taken to NRS Medical College and Hospital.

Sheikh Raju, one of those who escorted her to the hospital, said the doctors took only a cursory look at her before concluding that "her injuries were not serious enough" to warrant hospitalisation.

"From what we could gather, her left leg was fractured and she had chest and hand injuries. She was also bleeding from the nose and crying out in pain. The doctors who were on duty examined her for a few seconds and instructed the nurse to give her first aid. Once that was over, they asked us to take her home. We requested them to admit her, but they wouldn't listen to us," Raju said.

Now, my question is, how can the price of a medicine, manufactured and marketed by the same company, having the same potency and quantity, having the same dates of manufacture and dates of expiry, have such a disparity? Considering these two medical shops of Shyambazar enjoy an unimpeachable reputation, who can be held responsible for this?

Pachu Ray
30/2 Shyam Nagar Road, Kolkata 700055.

The road does not have any pavements. It is quite a busy area. There are three schools -- La Martiniere for Boys, La Martiniere for Girls and Birla High School -- apart from two multi-storeyed buildings, a temple and a private medical centre. Local residents complain that even if the unhygienic environment or the bad odour is not taken into consideration, the road has become highly unsafe for pedestrians, a big percentage of whom are school students.

"Garbage should not be dumped here since it is unhygienic for students. The situation was bad enough before the dumping started. Now it's worse. It will further deteriorate in the monsoon," said Sunirmal Chakravarti, principal, La Martiniere for Boys.

Every morning, the entire area is chock-a-block with students when the garbage van comes to collect the rubbish. As a result, there is a huge traffic snarl. Combine this with the bad odour, and you'll have an idea of the virtual hellhole that the area gets transformed into.

 What with the traffic snarl, that has become a daily routine, locals also fear a serious accident anytime. "Every morning on the way to school, I have to pass through the narrow spaces between stranded cars. With no pavements and cars parked on either side, and the overflowing garbage vat, we have no choice but to walk along the middle of the road. I had a close shave only last month while passing through gaps between cars, when one of the cars suddenly started moving," said Vashita Mundra, a student of Birla High School.

Thousands of students in academic institutes, patients in hospitals and employees in government and private offices suffer from enteric diseases as overhead water tanks are not cleaned regularly. Sources said for the past six months KMC had not been checking water quality in public places.

Even in government housing complexes, cleaning of tanks is not undertaken regularly. KMC authorities are flooded with complaints about the inferior quality of drinking water.

Take the example of a Kankurgachhi housing complex. Deputy mayor Kalyan Mukherjee said on Tuesday that residents of the complex had complained about rotting carcasses of crows in the tank. "We immediately cleaned the tank, but others don't have the money or manpower to look into this," Mukherjee said.

The KMC health department has blamed others arms of the civic body for not cleaning water tanks.

Mayor Bikash Bhattacharya said a KMC team had inspected the CU hostel and started the purification of drinking water. " We will send our team to other places as well," he said on Tuesday.

KMC health officials conceded that the drive against drinking water contamination has slowed down. "Earlier, hospitals like SSKM, NRS, Medical College Hospital and academic institutions like CU, Hindu School and Hare School did not clean their water tanks. I don't know about the situation now as we have not inspected these institutes in six months," a KMC official said.