Life stops on Kolkata roads, from east to west

KOLKATA: Continuous downpour since Sunday night choked parts of suburban Kolkata - stretching from Behala in the west to EM Bypass in the east - and forced commuters spend almost the entire morning trapped in their vehicles. Kolkata traffic police attributed the snarls to a number of problems - severely damaged roads, waterlogging, broken down vehicles and the non-availability of public transport.

Commuters faced a harowing time as a broken down bus on Biren Roy Road (west), waterlogging at Behala Chowrasta and Silpara (due to damaged roads, sewerage work and Metro station construction) led to massive jams. Up ahead, the ongoing PWD work at Pathakpara and multiple breakdowns on Taratala and Majherhat bridges added to the misery. Vehicles crawled for around three hours during the morning peak hours.



"I travel to my Dalhousie office everyday from Sakuntala Park. It usually takes around 1.30hours. On Monday, it took me around 3.15 hours to complete the journey. I spent around 50 minutes in Chowarsta and another 1.40 hours to cross Mominpore," said Debasis Nath, a banker.

Just when commuters were getting late on their way to their workplaces, Kolkata traffic police took to Facebook to warn them. They stated that there was traffic pressure on Majherhat Bridge due to "damaged roads", the second time they have stated so since the onset of monsoon. "We have been writing letters and holding meetings with the civic agencies. But the patchwork is yet to begin. We have informed Lalbazar about the condition here," claimed an officer from the local traffic guard.

On EM Bypass, the snarl stretched from Ruby crossing to as far as Chingrighata. The damaged road surface - at VIP Bazar and Panchanangram and again near Chingrighata - and waterlogging reported from the PC connector from Science City to Boat club and again near Metropolitan added to woes. Motorists feared using the extreme left lane, adding to pressure near the Science City crossing. A number of breakdowns on AJC Bose Road flyover and Maa flyover compounded the problem.

"The moment I turned towards Science City, vehicles were lined up as far as I could see. I hardly remember getting stuck for more than 45 minutes on this stretch while going to office," said Gautam Nag, an IT employee residing at Kasba.