Kolkata: Ultadanga autos stay off roads in peak hours

KOLKATA: A decision by Kolkata Traffic Police to streamline autos at the Ultadanga Crossing to reduce congestion at the busy crossing led to the operators stopping services on various routes till early afternoon on Monday, the first working day of the week. Many commuters had a tough time reaching their workplaces as the buses were crowded and very few autos plied during peak hours.
“All the auto union members believe that they are above law. Each time cops suggest something, they stop operations,” said Swati Banerjee, a commuter, who waited for 20 minutes at the crossing before boarding a CNG bus. The Ultadanga Traffic Guard opened several channels to thwart the challenge and bring back several autos on the road by 1pm.
According to union leaders of four routes, two decisions by local police had “upset” them as they are being forced to spend extra gas. “The autos from Airport, Baguiati and Lake Town are travelling up to Muchibazar to take a U-turn. This is around a kilometre of extra travel from the crossing. Cops have also stopped allowing autos, coming from Ahiritola and Khanna, to take U-turn near the Ultadanga police station (215 bus stand). Rather they ask the drivers to take the U-turn near Gurudas Dutta Lane. This is a major headache as several autos from Baguiati not only have to spend extra gas but the rival auto operators also take the advantage of the situation,” said a union leader.
Traffic cops, however, said the flying autos, not the ones under union, resorted to the flash strike on Monday.
Cops said the order to remove the U-turn from 215 bus stand came from Lalbazar. “Recently, the commissioner of police, Vineet Goyal, had conducted an inspection at Ultadanga. He instructed Ultadanga police to stop the U-turn of autos at their old spots. Unless we work this out, we cannot decongest the entire area or effectively utilize the automatic signalling plans that we have for this sector,” said a senior officer.
The fresh route alignment will barely see the auto operators adjust their U-turns by 30 metres. “Very few people will hop on to other vehicles from these spots to reach Ultadanga. We will now ensure that the new U-turns are implemented in letter and spirit,” said an officer of Ultadanga Traffic Guard.