Vehicles took hours to cross a distance of a kilometre in the City of Joy
Two days ahead of Durga Puja, Kolkata witnessed severe traffic snarls in several parts of the city as festive revellers hit the streets in large numbers. On Sunday, several areas in north and central Kolkata witnessed severe traffic congestion. Vehicles took hours to cross a distance of a kilometre or so in both south and north Kolkata, almost all major streets were chock-o-block with pandal hoppers.
Large footfalls
While traffic movement was stoped by the police at Kolutola Street in North Kolkata for several hours due to large footfalls at the nearby Durga Puja pandals, similar situation occurred at C.R. Avenue in central Kolkata.
“Puja rush has resulted in the closure of Kolutola Street and Eden Hospital road from C.R. Avenue,” stated the Kolkata Traffic Police in its official Facebook page. It also said that traffic movement in CIT Road in North Kolkata was stopped due to large crowds on the streets.
“Puja crowd has resulted in the closure of CIT Road,” Traffic Police authorities posted in the department’s Facebook page.
However, it was not just the rush of pandal hoppers that brought traffic to a grinding halt in the evening, but festive revellers swarming marketing hubs in the city also drastically slowed down traffic movement. Roads such as Bidhan Sarani and Aurobindo Sarani witnessed severe traffic congestion as people rushed to the market areas to complete Puja shopping.
Struggle for police
A similar situation occurred on Saturday evening. While large swaths of central and north Kolkata witnessed severe traffic snarls, in south Kolkata also the police struggled to handle the situation. By late evening festive revellers hit the streets by the thousands and traffic in areas such as Ballygunge and Jodhpur Park in south Kolkata where several big ticket Durga Pujas are located came to a grinding halt.
Later in the evening the EM Bypass which connects the eastern part of Kolkata to the southern parts of the city also got chocked with traffic. Areas such as M.G.Road and Vivekananda Road in North Kolkata and S.N. Banerjee Road in south Kolkata also witnessed severe traffic disruption due to Puja shopping. In places such as Bagbazar in North Kolkata traffic movement were temporarily closed due to movement of idols which only added to the problem.
In October 2015, the city came to a standstill with a near-stampede like situation at south Kolkata’s Deshapriya Park Durga Puja as a large number of spectators tried to rush inside the cramped pandal premises. Several people were injured in the incident. The 88-foot-tall Durga idol, then claimed by the organisers as the “largest” in the world was the reason behind such rush of spectators.
Two days ahead of Durga Puja, Kolkata witnessed severe traffic snarls in several parts of the city as festive revellers hit the streets in large numbers. On Sunday, several areas in north and central Kolkata witnessed severe traffic congestion. Vehicles took hours to cross a distance of a kilometre or so in both south and north Kolkata, almost all major streets were chock-o-block with pandal hoppers.
Large footfalls
While traffic movement was stoped by the police at Kolutola Street in North Kolkata for several hours due to large footfalls at the nearby Durga Puja pandals, similar situation occurred at C.R. Avenue in central Kolkata.
“Puja rush has resulted in the closure of Kolutola Street and Eden Hospital road from C.R. Avenue,” stated the Kolkata Traffic Police in its official Facebook page. It also said that traffic movement in CIT Road in North Kolkata was stopped due to large crowds on the streets.
“Puja crowd has resulted in the closure of CIT Road,” Traffic Police authorities posted in the department’s Facebook page.
However, it was not just the rush of pandal hoppers that brought traffic to a grinding halt in the evening, but festive revellers swarming marketing hubs in the city also drastically slowed down traffic movement. Roads such as Bidhan Sarani and Aurobindo Sarani witnessed severe traffic congestion as people rushed to the market areas to complete Puja shopping.
Struggle for police
A similar situation occurred on Saturday evening. While large swaths of central and north Kolkata witnessed severe traffic snarls, in south Kolkata also the police struggled to handle the situation. By late evening festive revellers hit the streets by the thousands and traffic in areas such as Ballygunge and Jodhpur Park in south Kolkata where several big ticket Durga Pujas are located came to a grinding halt.
Later in the evening the EM Bypass which connects the eastern part of Kolkata to the southern parts of the city also got chocked with traffic. Areas such as M.G.Road and Vivekananda Road in North Kolkata and S.N. Banerjee Road in south Kolkata also witnessed severe traffic disruption due to Puja shopping. In places such as Bagbazar in North Kolkata traffic movement were temporarily closed due to movement of idols which only added to the problem.
In October 2015, the city came to a standstill with a near-stampede like situation at south Kolkata’s Deshapriya Park Durga Puja as a large number of spectators tried to rush inside the cramped pandal premises. Several people were injured in the incident. The 88-foot-tall Durga idol, then claimed by the organisers as the “largest” in the world was the reason behind such rush of spectators.
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