The Bidhannagar east police station held an interaction with residents of CK-CL Block to assess common problems in the area and come up with ways to resolve them.

The most common complaints were about cars being parked in lanes all day, thereby making it tough for traffic to pass. “My mother is sick but the ambulance can’t approach our driveway thanks to the cars parked outside,” said a resident. “Once when there was a fire in a CL Block house even the fire engine had to take a detour as the shortest route was jammed with parked cars!”

Thanks to the reduced road space, Monalisa Sengupta said cars get stuck face-to-face and with both drivers refusing to reverse, there is constant honking starting from 6am. Justice (retd) Soumitra Sen, a resident of CL Block, cited houses with three cars, all of which are parked outside, leaving their driveway empty. “Bidhan Chandra Roy had imagined Salt Lake to be a haven for the middle class but now every plot has three flats and six cars to its name,” said Ambar Majumder. A CK Block resident suggested that cars be allowed to park only on one side of the road.

Hearing them out was Biswajit Das, sub-inspector Bidhannagar east police station, who is in charge of CK, CL, DL and CG blocks. “Once we got a complaint about a car parked indefinitely in DL Block. We towed it away,” he said. “It is possible to act on such specific complaints but bear in mind that Salt Lake residents are all influential. If we take a drastic step they speak to higher authorities and there are repercussions.”

Onkar Banerjee spoke of encroachment. “There are 35 families living in the empty plots between CK Market and Kashmir Bhavan. They take over the road after midnight and it becomes unsafe to travel past that stretch,” he said.

Shayan Mitra Mustafi highlighted the problems associated with paying guests (PG) mushrooming amongst them. “Who are these PGs and why do they change houses every three months? The police should check their IDs,” he said, also sharing concerns about traffic chaos in future once the East-West Metro gains popularity.

“So many residents here are senior citizens living alone or at the mercy of domestic helps. We want to create a strong bond with you such that in case of emergencies, the police may reach even before the ambulance,” said Das, requesting residents to give them their complaints in writing, along with signatures. “Then we can use it as leverage to take action.”

Banerjee, assistant secretary of the block association, later said they handed over such a letter to the police along with signatures of more than 30 residents.