On Sunday, when thousands of football fans were heading for the Salt Lake stadium to witness the Durand Cup title clash, residents of the block next door to the stadium were also out on the streets. Their destination was not the stadium gate but the entry points to their own block.
In a striking case of citizen activism, IA Block Residents’ Forum mobilised a team of around 25 from among its own members in the age group of 45-60 years to guard the block from intrusion. “We are fed up of our streets being taken over by outsiders and our gates blocked every time there is a big match at the stadium. They have such boorish behaviour that it is impossible to interact with them,” said Mandira Mitra, presidentof the forum.
Indiscriminate parking of vehicles has for long been a problem for residents of blocks adjacent to the stadium but none more so than IA Block. The issue had been highlighted on the cover of The Telegraph Salt Lake in 2006.
But this is the first time that residents have taken matters in their own hands. “We were left with no option after the lawlessness that we witnessed on the day of the match between East Bengal and NorthEast United,” said Sudip Sarkar, a resident who led one of the two teams that stood guard on the streets along with police personnel on Sunday.
Many of the club supporters, he alleged, habitually arrive two hours early on match day. “They settle down with liquor right at our gates. The men of the family are away at work and it is mostly the elderly and the homemakers who are at home. As they drink, they get excited and the obsceneties they mouth rise in volume. Some also urinate at will. Residents can hardly dare raise a voice,” said Sarkar.
If they do, the consequences are violent. “The hooligalism of the club supporters is rising with every passing match. On Sunday, an elderly lady who stays with her ill husband, asked their caretaker to get such a group to move from her doorstep. When he approached them, they beat up the man and even bit him. We later lodged a complaint with the Bidhannagar south police station,” said Prasenjit Chatterjee, a resident who stays on the main road facing the stadium and was also part of Sunday’s vigilant group.
The incident upset residents so much that they demanded redress from the police before Sunday’s final. “We were initially asked to adjust for a couple of hours but we asked them if there was a medical emergency or a law and order situation whether the police would undertake to shoulder the responsibility,” said Chatterjee. A deputation was submitted to the deputy commissioner, traffic, and on Saturday night the local thana inspector-in-change and the traffic inspector came to meet the residents. “We showed them the eight entry points to the block. They are barricaded with bamboo poles before every match but the bikers ride the pavement and get in from the sides of the barricade. That we told them needed to be stopped by posting of police personnel and we offered to assist,” he added.
IA Block has three blind lanes close to the stadium leading to a park which are used as shortcuts by pedestrians. “The bikers mount the pavement and enter these lanes at will and leave the two-wheelers wherever they please blocking the entire passage. These are also their drinking dens, hidden as these spots are from the main road but a stone’s throw away from the stadium,” said Sarkar.
The residents also suspect that the bikers get into an arangement with some people from Duttabad, who allow them to park in these lanes in exchange of their helmets to be kept as surety. The parking charge is around Rs 40. “We have overheard some of these conversations and also seen dozens of helmets kept on the pavement outside IA Market. Even if there is a cop on duty, he looks the other way as the bikes enter the lanes,” he added.
On Sunday, all these lanes inside the block stayed free of intrusion. “They did try to enter and some got into arguments with us. But because we were in a group and the police were with us, they went away,” the residents said.
A traffic police officer pointed out that the designated parking sports are the road alongside Eastern Drainage Canal, the road between IB and IC blocks till Tank 16 island, the road near Tank 13 island. “The number of motorbikes carrying supporters seems to have multiplied. We segregated IA Block by guard rail and manning as well as the road behind AMRI Hospital. The Sunday crowd numbered 55,000-60,000. We could disperse the traffic within 45 minutes of the end of the match,” he said.
Neighbours’ headache
But IA Block’s resistance triggered a spillover to adjoining blocks like HA, IB and HB. Debashis Roy stays next to Bijan Bhavan in HA Block. “For the first time since I settled here in 1991, there was indiscriminate parking all around our house. Two-wheelers and small goods carriers stood cheek by jowl on the service road and in the alley behind Bijan Bhavan. It is surprising how this was allowed as Bijan Bhavan is a high-security address, being the judges’ quarter,” Roy said.
Some supporters drank so much liquor on the pavement next door that a few of them lay down on the marble floor, intoxicated. “We too will have to take the street if this continues during subsequent matches,” he said.
All the residents recalled the experiece of the stadium hosting the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in 2017. “There were no problems as the parking arrangements were nice and the spectators who came were well-behaved and parked legally,” said Chatterjee.
The traffic police, he said, need to replicate that parking system during all matches and also arrange for special buses for pick-up and drop from nodal points like they do during the Book Fair at Central Park. “That way, the tendency of spectators to bring private vehicles will reduce,” he suggested.
Janmashtami at New Town Iskcon temple
The Iskcon temple in New Town is celebrating an eight-day-long festival for Janmashtami till September 8. Located diagonally opposite Sukhobrishti, the temple had opened last year.
The most elaborate rituals were reserved for Thursday, that was Janmashtami, with a grand abhishek of Radha-Krishna accompanied by devotional songs. Plays and dances have been taking place everyday.
Spiritual teacher and monk Bhakti Vasudeva Swami has been leading discourses, which will conclude today. Khichadi prasad will be distributed for all from 4 to 9pm.