New steps to ease weekend traffic in Kolkata

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Traffic Police took several additional steps on a rain-hit Saturday to ensure that weekend evening traffic kept moving smoothly.
This included removing a major parking lot opposite Grand Hotel in New Market area and putting up channelizers at Gariahat to ensure shoppers did not step on to the roads. With the rain, too, keeping shoppers away at Hatibagan, traffic flow remained better when compared to the past two weekends.
The presence of a significant number of cops on the streets till late at night for Ganesh idol immersions ensured that motorists were disciplined and jaywalking remained in check.However, certain parts of the city —burdened by bad roads— witnessed slower movement of vehicles. This included Prince Anwar Shah Road, CR Avenue and Behala Market area. Across the city, police reverted to manual traffic signalling. “We had to alter the traffic cycles at a few spots to control the jump in the number of private vehicles on roads,” said an officer. At major markets, police replaced civic volunteers with uniformed men in the evening.
At New Market, South Traffic Guard removed the parking area opposite Grand Hotel from early evening to increase road space. No app cab, private car or taxi was allowed to halt for too long near Lindsay Street entry.
At Gariahat, traffic flow remained almost normal thanks to cops creating special channelizers at the main crossing.
The percentage of shoppers wearing masks was relatively higher at New Market compared to last week and significantly higher at Gariahat.