A new platform to voice their grievances brought about 30 residents of Salt Lake together on Sunday morning at a CK Block address, where the Association of Bidhannagar Residents held its first citizens’ convention. General issues like parking to ones specific to blocks were all raised and recorded. The association, which is accepting membership, plans to submit a deputation to the mayor and the commissioner of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation on Friday afternoon.

“There was no central body to exchange ideas with or hold interactions among neighbours from across the township. BK Block ey theke CJ Block er khobor paina. Nijeder katha kake bolbo?” said Tarpan Saha, one of the attendees, lauding the formation of the forum.

“This is an apolitical organisation. We are reaching out to everyone. Any resident can come and discuss problems they face. They need not necessarily be representatives of the block association,” said Urmila Sen of CE Block. The former president of Newtown Sarbojanin Durgotsav and Newtown book fair committee is now heading the Salt Lake residents’ forum.

Parking fee pain

This is a growing problem in a township where several families have more cars than they have garage space for and where due to increasing commercialisation, the number of visitors is also escalating. “I stay in front of the swimming pool. When the traffic sergeant comes, drivers of outsiders who come to the food court promptly escape with their cars. It is the cars of residents who are slapped with cases for parking in front of their homes. And when we go to pick up bread from the main road, we are made to fork out a parking fee of Rs 20 for buying a loaf of bread worth Rs 26,” said Shaoli Majumdar of BF Block.

State of roads

The footpaths are almost a foot higher than the carriageway. “Elderly people either fall in trying to get off to the road or find it difficult to climb them with their weak knees,” complained Ramen Ganguly, a retired town planner from BF Block.

He also stressed on the importance of zebra crossings for pedestrian safety. “Colour the zebra crossings so people know where they can safely cross the road in a disciplined way,” Ganguly added.

Another inconvenience is the uneven edges of the thick asphalt topping of the carriageways which are often 8 to 10 cm higher than the gullypits. “Passengers getting off a car or walking along the kerbside would easily twist their ankle or lose their balance and fall,” an elderly resident complained.

Nayan Kar, a lawyer from CA Block, is a victim of broken roads in his neighbourhood. While some roads have been repaired, as reported by Mousumi Chakravarty, the DABlock vice-president, the roads in the very next block are in a pathetic state. “If they are unable to repair the roads of the entire township all at once, they should have a strategy to prioritise areas with high footfall, like markets,” Kar said.

The Telegraph Salt Lake visited the road in front of the CA Market entrance and found the area in a cratered condition indeed. Kar also complained of the broken sidewalk leading to the market. “About eight months back, I tripped in a pothole and fell on all fours, and ended up with deep bruises. It was lucky that I was not run over in the usually busy road that evening. I posted a strongly worded message in the residents’ WhatsApp group narrating my ordeal, for which I was berated and blocked by the councillor,” said Kar.

Construction woes

Salt Lake is in the grip of demolition and construction fever after the state government allowed the transfer of the leasehold rights on payment of fees in 2012. The trend has peaked in recent years. In a single block, sometimes on a single lane, multiple two or three-storeyed houses are being brought down and taller buildings coming up in their place as the original lessees are handing over their properties to well-heeled newcomers.

Several residents at the meeting complained of unbearable noise from construction sites next door and cited the cover story that The Telegraph Salt Lake had done to highlight the plight of residents having to survive the onslaught on the eardrums. Debashish Mukherjee of CF Block has constructions underway on three sides of his house. “Building materials are lying dumped on the road. For the last 10 days, earth-moving machines have been deployed. There is so much dust that we can hardly breathe. The contractor sends the materials late at night which are unloaded from the vehicles, waking the neighbourhood up,” he said. “Someempty plots have been turned to permanent marble slab-cutting sites according to the builder’s needs. Why can they not do the cutting in their factories and come?” he added.

Susmita Majumdar of BE Blockis suffering much more than noise.“There are splashes of mortar all over my verandah. Demolition and construction in my adjacent plot are on for four years now. The mortar is my newest headache for the last three months,” she said.

The builder has not hung the mandatory dust shield over the building, which is a cloth without holes that is supposed to prevent dust or construction materials from escaping the construction site. Even materials stacked in front of the site are required to be covered with a plastic sheet or cloth but such rules are seldom adhered to.

Stone chips piled on the pavement had caused Baisakhi Sarkar’s 80-year-old husband to trip and fall, the BE Block resident said.

Park as romance den

While Nayan Kar of CA Block felt the Green Verges could be better maintained, Supti Roy of AK Block complained of residents being unable to sit in the local park due to couples getting cosy in public. “There are lots of paying guests staying in Kestopur who come over and use our park. They are indecent in daytime itself, so in the evening things get out of hand. We would like to sit and chat in the park in summer evenings but we cannot.” Complaints have been lodged with the local police station. “The police vehicle parks for some time next to the park and goes away. It does not deter the couples.”

Youngsters playing cricket or football can also be a menace. “A neighbour had her glasses broken when a ball came flying and hit her face,” she said.

Streetlights blocked

Ramen Ganguly, the retired town planner, complained of lack of planning in planting trees on the median dividers. “Trees should not be planted cheek by jowl with lamp posts. Often the canopy of the tree blocks the illumination from reaching the ground. Then it becomes a waste of electricity to light the lamp in the first place,” he said.

A related complaint was about the bundles of cable lines left hanging from the streetlights. “Cable lines dangle and are kept in a pile on the divider. The unused cables are both a visual pollution and a burden on the lampposts, which are not designed to bear the extra burden,” said Mousumi Roy Chowdhury of CA Block.

Suggestions

CA Block resident Nayan Kar suggested that one of the parks be converted to a hangout zone. “There should be ticketed entry with proper landscaping and seats. A few coffee stalls should be there so that residents may relax over a hot drink and snacks.”

Arunava Das asked residents to take a hard look at themselves. “I was a block president for three years. People keep their own households spick and span but think nothing of tossing garbage outside on the streets. If we admire Singapore or Hong Kong for cleanliness, the credit goes as much to its residents as to the authorities,” said the BA Block resident.

He also asked whether residents of Salt Lake paid adequate property tax to demand the kind of civic services they think they deserve. When the audience members nodded in agreement, he suggested setting up a fund with collections from residents and offering it to the government as additional tax while demanding better service.

“Salt Lake is barely 50 years old. It is sad the way things are degenerating. How can the township be dying so soon?” he wondered.

Ramen Ganguly of BF Block suggested making water harvesting mandatory so that the rainwater accumulated on the roof can be collected in a tank and reused to wash cars and water gardens.

Ritesh Basak, the secretary of the association, urged residents to move away from excessive dependance on the local councillor. “This is resulting in weak block associations. If the councillor’s assent is required for everything, he or she would bypass the association and permit things which we might not find palatable,” Basak warned.

Some block committees, he alleged, accept gifts and favours, and lose the voice to protest against the councillor. He also rued the tendency to dub as opponent everyone who raises objection to the status quo. “Let us gather at Poura Bhavan on Friday and submit the deputation together. We cannot bring about the changes but we can amplify your voice and act as a catalyst for change,” he said.