Calcutta is going through its worst traffic season.
Schools and colleges are open and offices are on in full swing. Shoppers are making a last-minute rush to malls and markets and pandal-hopping has begun with many big-ticket pujas throwing their doors open.
Calcuttans’ infamous lack of traffic discipline and the fact that the special police deployment for the Puja is yet to start are making the situation worse.
Autos stopping and turning wherever they want, pedestrians walking merrily on main roads to avoid the congestion on footpaths, taxis slowing down as drivers look for bag-heavy passengers, roads narrowed by barricades — the city has a perfect recipe for chaos on roads.
A college teacher said the bus she was travelling in was diverted from Deshapriya Park as traffic was “crawling” on Monday afternoon.
“First, the traffic was very slow today. It took me 45 minutes to reach Gariahat from Kasba. When the bus reached Deshapriya Park, it was diverted through Southern Avenue. Then I was asked to get off near the women’s police station in Tollygunge. The conductor said the bus would not go towards Kalighat Metro station,” the teacher said.
She had to walk a few hundred metres to reach the Metro station, from where she took a train to her college in north Calcutta.
Officers of the local traffic guard said the diversion was caused by a problem at the Hazra crossing and had nothing to do with the big pujas in the vicinity.
A homemaker who avoided a weekend visit to Gariahat for her “last-minute shopping” thinking the rush would be relatively less on a weekday, was caught up in a snarl on Gariahat Road for “at least 30 minutes” on Monday evening.
Many motorists complained that the majority of the pedestrians were not following traffic rules and were walking on the roads, while many pedestrians said the roads were barricaded and they were finding it difficult to walk through the crowded footpaths.
Although there were extra police arrangements near the shopping hubs and the bigger pujas, the number of men in uniform was far less compared to what it would be from Wednesday.
A huge police contingent will be on the roads to manage Puja traffic and pedestrian movement from Chaturthi (Wednesday). However, with barely two days to go for the bandobast to kick in, the city traffic police looked hapless for most of Monday.
Pedestrians spilled on the thoroughfares at the Shyambazar crossing, occupying almost a third of the carriageways, while the police watched from near.
An officer in the traffic department posted near the Shyambazar crossing said: “If we are strict on the roads, as we are on the Puja days, half the shoppers will not be able to park their cars and will have to walk with heavy bags. That will create more trouble on the roads.”
A senior officer at Lalbazar said as the personnel are not allowed any leave during the festival, many take a short break just before Durga Puja.
“Senior officers are generally generous in granting leave before Durga Puja because once the festival starts, the duty roster stretches into several days at a stretch covering multiple festivals,” said the officer.
The traffic condition in the city could be the same for the next two days — till the special police arrangements on the occasion of Puja takes effect on Wednesday.
Although Sashthi is the last working day in many schools and offices, Calcutta police deploy their special Durga Puja forces from Chaturthi and impose traffic restrictions to keep the traffic moving.