Tweak in traffic norms unclogs road to airport

KOLKATA: Serpentine snarls near Sree Bhumi Puja pandal, which had left several fliers stranded on VIP Road for hours, triggering late shows and near-miss situations at the airport over the past three days, have prompted Bidhannagar City Police to go back to the drawing board and make changes to traffic plans. Immediate implementation of the new set of dos and don’ts brought speed and smoothness back on VIP Road from Monday evening.



Such was the situation from Chaturthi that airlines had started issuing advisories to fliers to report at least three and a half hours before the scheduled departure of their flights. “The step was taken keeping in mind feedback from several passengers about getting stuck on their way to the airport because of the traffic jam around puja pandals on their way,” said a senior official of an airlines.

Commuters complained that it took them over an hour to travel between Ultadanga and Bangur Avenue, a mere 2km distance. Cops had also started issuing advisories on their social media platforms, asking airport-bound passengers to take New Town Main arterial Road instead of VIP Road to avoid traffic jam.

But Monday was a welcome change as commuters were surprised to cover the same stretch in around 5 minutes during the peak evening hour. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was scheduled to meet a group of friends at Park Street at 9pm. So I left early, bracing for a traffic jam at Lake Town. But there was no jam in the evening and I ended up reaching an hour early,” said Bidisha Dutta, a resident of Keshtopur.

Officials of Bidhannagar Commissionerate said they made some minor changes, that included blocking a cut near Dum Dum Park crossing, deboarding of passengers on service roads, increasing the pedestrian waiting time for road crossovers and forcing pedestrians to use subways. Further vehicles coming from Lake Town to VIP Road crossing are being routed from Bangur and are made to come over to VIP road from Narayanpur.

“No auto or taxi parking or stoppages are now allowed between Golaghata and Bangur. The newly constructed Golaghata underpass is being used for revellers’ movement and those carrying VIP or guest passes are being routed through Sree Bhumi subway,” said a senior official of the commissionerate posted at the Lake Town crossing.