Six processions to mark Hanuman Jayanti on Thursday have got police permission. Many more processions could be organised without permission, a section of police officers fears.
The processions may affect traffic on a vast stretch of the city in phases throughout the day.
Sources at Lalbazar said all the organisers have been instructed to restrict the number of participants to 100 and ensure that all the norms laid down by the police are followed.
Thursday’s first procession is likely to start as early as 6am, from Liluah in Howrah. It will pass through the Howrah bridge, Kalakar Street, KK Tagore Street, Bidhan Sarani, BK Paul Avenue and Jatindra Mohan Avenue before culminating in Paikpara.
One more procession will start from Howrah in the morning. The police said the rallyists will start at 7.15am and pass through the Howrah bridge, Strand Road, Raja Katra, Hari Ram Goenka Street and Kalakar Street.
Although one of the rally norms recently laid down by the police states that no procession should disrupt traffic, officers said there was a possibility that traffic would be affected for a few minutes on the stretches through which the processions will pass.
“There will be an extra deployment of force along the routes of the processions to ensure that traffic does not come to a standstill and there is no untoward incident,” a senior officer at Lalbazar said.
Traffic in south Kolkata could be affected in the afternoon as a procession will start from Sambhunath Pandit Road in south Kolkata around 2.30pm and wound its way through Harish Mukherjee Road before culminating on Harish Chatterjee Street, not far from chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s house.
A fourth procession will start from Bansdroni and a fifth from Brahmo Samaj Lane in southwest Kolkata’s Garden Reach. Both will commence at 5pm.
The sixth, which, too, will commence at 5pm, will start from the Nimtala Ghat crossing in north Kolkata. It will pass through Jorabagan Street, Jadulal Mullick Road, Kalakar Street, Cotton Street, Nalini Seth Road, Sri Hariram Goenka Street, Lower Chitpur Road and Rabindra Sarani.
“This procession will start from the Nimtala Ghat crossing and return there after passing through the declared route. The estimated time to complete the circle is around five hours,” said an officer in the traffic department.
TRAFFIC ALERT
1st procession
- To start at: 6am
- Declared route: GT Road, Liluah, Bandhaghat, Golabari, Howrah bridge, Kalakar Street, KK Tagore Street, Bidhan Sarani, BK Paul Avenue, Jatindra Mohan Avenue, Bhupen Bose Avenue, Bidhan Sarani, Shyambazar five-point crossing, Paikpara
2nd procession
- To start at: 7.15am
- Declared route: Salkia School Road, Char Chowk in Howrah, Kalakar Street, Dobson Road, Howrah bridge, Strand Road, Raja Katra, Hari Ram Goenka Street, Kalakar Street
3rd procession
- To start at: 2.30pm
- Declared route: Sambhu Nath Pandit Road, Harish Mukherjee Road, Harish Chatterjee Street
4th procession
- To start at: 5pm
- Declared route: Bansdroni to Pirpukur
5th procession
- To start at: 5pm
- Declared route: Brahma Samaj Lane in Garden Reach, Mudiali Bazar, Mudiali Panchanantala, Mudiali Hari Sabha, Mudiali School, Bandhabartalla, Fatepur, TG Ground in Garden Reach
6th procession
- To start at: 5pm
- Expected to finish by: 10pm
- Declared route: Nimtala Ghat crossing, Nimtala Ghat Street, Jorabagan Street, Jadulal Mullick Road, Kalakar Street,Cotton Street, Nalini Seth Road, Sri Hariram Goenka Street, Lower Chitpur Road, Rabindra Sarani, Nimtala Ghat crossing