The autorickshaw stand at the VIP Road-Jessore Road intersection. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The next time you are stuck in a jam on a five-km stretch of VIP Road en route the airport, don?t blame the traffic police alone.

At the VIP Road-Jessore Road intersection and at Teghoria, two autorickshaw stands have been set up by the Citu in the past two weeks and they are carrying on brisk business without caring to obtain police okay or clearance from the regional transport authority.

VIP Road ? the only artery connecting the city with the airport ? has been unusually clogged for the past couple of weeks, thanks to these illegal stands. Airport-bound commuters are frequently getting stuck at Dum Dum Park, Kestopur and the VIP Road-Jessore Road crossing.

Nearly 300 vehicles pass the stretch every hour.

?Two illegal stands, from which nearly 200 autorickshaws ply, are causing the traffic snarls,? stated an official of the Regional Transport Authority of Barasat.

An officer of Gouripur Traffic Guard, which controls vehicular movement on VIP Road, iterated: ?The stands are illegal. We have not permitted the autorickshaw drivers to operate from the spots.?

The cops, too, felt that the stands are holding up traffic. But they pleaded helplessness in solving the problem, because of the Citu link.

The spot at Joramandir, near Baguiati, where one of the auto stands has been set up. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

There are already four stands in the area that house autorickshaws, infamous for rash driving and causing jams. ?Nearly 350 cases have been registered against autorickshaw drivers in the past two months,? a traffic cop said.

The stretch is known for frequent accidents and roadblocks. Four persons were killed in mishaps in the past year, leading to roadblocks on at least three occasions.

?We have little power and our superiors turn a blind eye to the problem,? complained a constable, who often mans the Jessore Road-VIP Road intersection.

Praveen Kumar, police superintendent, North 24-Parganas, asserted that discussions between the union, transport authorities and police are the only way out. Asked whether action can be initiated against those who have set the stands, he refused comment.

An inspection of the sites on Thursday revealed that neither Ashoke Roy, officer-in-charge of Dum Dum police station, which supervises the airport crossing, nor Gouranga Mitra, deputy superintendent of police (traffic), North 24-Parganas, had taken any action, though the matter had been brought to their notice a week ago.

Tarun Das, secretary of the Citu-affiliated autorickshaw committee, defended the setting up of the stands: ?We need the stands to generate employment for the youths who support us. People may have to suffer a bit so that these boy can earn a livelihood.?

Autorickshaw drivers, however, ascribed a more potent motive to the Citu move.

One of them explained: ?Citu workers collect Rs 2 per trip from each autorickshaw to dole out a ?licence? to operate on the route.?