Wary of school traffic, residents hit the streets to unclog Ballygunge roads

KOLKATA: Residents of a tony south Kolkata neighbourhood came out on to the streets on Thursday morning to protest against the clogging of all lanes and bylanes by pool cars ferrying thousands of children to and from the city’s largest school — in terms of the number of students — and police putting up noentry boards at several places.

The residents of Ballygunge Place, Anil Maitra Road, Cornfield Road, Swinhoe Street, Jamir Lane on Thursday vented their ire on the no-entry boards and removed them from the way. They have threatened to stage a road blockade to make things more difficult for the cops, who are already struggling to keep the traffic moving in the area during school hours. Police have promised them to resolve the issue through dialogue at a meeting on Sunday.

“I am a diabetic who had a COPD attack recently. The doctor could not reach me because the road was impenetrable. This is just an example. Even if I want to return home from my office a little early in the evening, I cannot. All roads leading to my home are clogged because the school gets over at 5.30pm,” said 65-yearold Kalyan Sen, a resident of Anil Maitra Road.

For last 30 years, the situation has remained the same — “they are denied accesss to their home”, “ambulances can not reach the ailing” and “driving in and out of the area during school hours is impossible”. “We have to park our cars two-and-a-half km away. App cabs refused to pick us up from our doorstep. We can’t even take a rickshaw as cops don’t allow them. What else do you need to add to our bouquet of miseries?” asked Jhimli Das, a resident of Ballygunge Place.

An officer of the Southeast Traffic Guard, which manage traffic in the area, said: “The only solution to this problem is staggered dispersal of students. This is how we manage traffic in and around other populous schools in the vicinity. But somehow, the staggered dispersal could not be implemented for this school.”

“Yes, it is a problem. The school has been there for last 50 years. A number of high-rises have come up and population in the locality has increased exponentially. But the traffic problem is an area which only police can resolve. We do whatever police advise us to do. Time and again, we circulate advisories to students. We also hope police to come up with tenable solution of the problem,” said Krishna Damani, speokesperson of South Point School.

A meeting has been scheduled this weekend to look for a solution. However, Das is fed up with such futile meetings. “We have had enough of meetings. The problem remains a problem. Why would I suffer because of the school? Why can’t the vehicles carrying students cannot drop senior students to a point and disperse. Why do they need to clog our neighbourhood?” she asked.

Saswati Deb is no less furious. “My husband is unwell and doctors refuse to visit him because of the traffic trouble. The app-cab cancels our booking when they see that they need to pick up from this place,” said the Swinhoe Street resident. Sudarshana Mukherjee, local councillor, who is known to have stayed with the residents through the thick and thin, said: “We all want the problem to be resolved fast. Let’s see what solution police can offer.”