Water work halts traffic near Kolkata airport
Tamaghna Banerjee | TNN | Mar 11, 2019, 06:05 IST
Queue of vehicles on airport-bound flank of VIP RoadKOLKATA: Several fliers allegedly reported late to take their flights at the airport on Sunday after a water pipeline installation work on Jessore Road near airport Gate no. 3, threw traffic haywire on Jessore Road and VIP Road – the thoroughfares leading to the airport for a better part of Sunday till late afternoon.
The work on installation of a water pipeline had begun around 10am on Sunday morning and continued through the day till late on Sunday. As part of the installation, three fourth of the road was dug up by noon and that is when traffic started clogging on the road. Soon, the tail of the traffic snarl reached up till Teghoria and Baguiati and even atop the Baguiati flyover. Such was the condition, that around 2pm, some fliers complained that it took them over an hour to reach the airport from Haldirams, barely 2 km away.
“The municipal authorities had promised to work on one flank and keep the other open to both way traffic movement. But they had dug up the entire Barasat bound flank by afternoon including half of the airport bound flank that caused the main traffic logjam. We asked the authorities to fast pace the work and fill up the dug up stretch at the earliest. They did so by 2pm, but then several vehicles got stuck in the mud and we had to get in an earthmover to pull and push vehicles out of the mess, that further created more logjam,” said an officer of Bidhannagar Police traffic department.
Almost every airline received frantic calls from passengers requesting them not to close the counters as they were stuck in the traffic jam. “We enquired the airport authorities regarding the reason behind many passengers coming in late but they too had no information. Later we learnt there was some major traffic chaos on the road,” said an airline official.
An Uber driver who was carrying a passenger to the airport said, he faced severe traffic congestion on VIP Road even around 3.30pm. “Once my car alighted from the flyover at Haldiram’s, traffic came to a sudden halt. Then on, it took me nearly 45 minutes to cover that 2km stretch till the airport,” said Biswajit Das, the Uber driver. “The elderly passengers in the cab were frantically calling up the airline office informing them about their delay.”
According to North Dum Dum municipality officials, the stretch near airport 3 no. gate and Belghoria Expressway was dug up around 10am but the situation aggravated when CESC also began an underground cable laying work on the other flank at the same time.
“We apologise for the trouble caused to the commuters but it was a very important project to ensure people living north of the Jessore Road can get proper water supply just like the people living in the north. It is an important work since summer is just round the corner when this area faces tremendous water scarcity. We have finished the underground work by tomorrow the pipeline will be injected by jack-push system which will ensure no traffic disruption from Monday,” said Subodh Chakraborty, the chairman of North Dum Dum Municipality.
The work on installation of a water pipeline had begun around 10am on Sunday morning and continued through the day till late on Sunday. As part of the installation, three fourth of the road was dug up by noon and that is when traffic started clogging on the road. Soon, the tail of the traffic snarl reached up till Teghoria and Baguiati and even atop the Baguiati flyover. Such was the condition, that around 2pm, some fliers complained that it took them over an hour to reach the airport from Haldirams, barely 2 km away.
“The municipal authorities had promised to work on one flank and keep the other open to both way traffic movement. But they had dug up the entire Barasat bound flank by afternoon including half of the airport bound flank that caused the main traffic logjam. We asked the authorities to fast pace the work and fill up the dug up stretch at the earliest. They did so by 2pm, but then several vehicles got stuck in the mud and we had to get in an earthmover to pull and push vehicles out of the mess, that further created more logjam,” said an officer of Bidhannagar Police traffic department.
Almost every airline received frantic calls from passengers requesting them not to close the counters as they were stuck in the traffic jam. “We enquired the airport authorities regarding the reason behind many passengers coming in late but they too had no information. Later we learnt there was some major traffic chaos on the road,” said an airline official.
An Uber driver who was carrying a passenger to the airport said, he faced severe traffic congestion on VIP Road even around 3.30pm. “Once my car alighted from the flyover at Haldiram’s, traffic came to a sudden halt. Then on, it took me nearly 45 minutes to cover that 2km stretch till the airport,” said Biswajit Das, the Uber driver. “The elderly passengers in the cab were frantically calling up the airline office informing them about their delay.”
According to North Dum Dum municipality officials, the stretch near airport 3 no. gate and Belghoria Expressway was dug up around 10am but the situation aggravated when CESC also began an underground cable laying work on the other flank at the same time.
“We apologise for the trouble caused to the commuters but it was a very important project to ensure people living north of the Jessore Road can get proper water supply just like the people living in the north. It is an important work since summer is just round the corner when this area faces tremendous water scarcity. We have finished the underground work by tomorrow the pipeline will be injected by jack-push system which will ensure no traffic disruption from Monday,” said Subodh Chakraborty, the chairman of North Dum Dum Municipality.
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