(Top) An ambulance carrying a patient is stuck on VIP Road after the slip bridge was closed to traffic on Tuesday. (Below) A policeman directs a taxi driver to the Bypass through Ultadanga. Pictures by Bishwarup Dutta

What was the problem?

The original plan was to close the slip bridge on VIP Road to medium and heavy traffic, allowing only light motor vehicles to pass till the left turn to Salt Lake. This was to facilitate construction of pillars for a 1,290-metre flyover originating at the trijunction of VIP Road, Salt Lake and Ultadanga. On Tuesday, the police were forced to close the bridge to all forms of traffic after some residents of AA Block blocked the entrance to Salt Lake to prevent vehicles from reaching the Bypass through the township. The protesters argued it was a “private road” and that safety would be compromised if it became a thoroughfare.

What was the consequence?

Vehicles crawled on VIP Road, the bumper-to-bumper queue at one point stretching from Lake Town to the Ultadanga crossing. The drive from Teghoria to the Ultadanga crossing during rush hour takes around 30 minutes. Motorists took more than two hours to cover the same stretch on Tuesday.

The ripple effect was felt at the Ultadanga crossing, the Punjab National Bank intersection in Salt Lake and even Kankurgachhi. As traffic came to a standstill, many students missed school, some travellers failed to check in for their flights and office employees were late for their appointments.

How long will the problem continue?

The flyover won’t be complete before two years, but the slip bridge will be reopened in December.

What could be the solution?

Officials of the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority visited the problem points and struggled to find a solution.

“I believe we have to make it compulsory for all Bypass-bound private cars and taxis to take the Rajarhat Expressway from Wednesday,” said a senior engineer.

The other things that the authorities can do to spare people a repeat of Tuesday’s misery is to spread the word about the traffic restriction, deploy more police personnel and improve the condition of the expressway.

Sufferers speak out

Sharnamayi Kundu, 62, was in an ambulance for two hours, the intensity of her gall bladder pain increasing every minute. The ambulance was headed for Anandalok Nursing Home in Salt Lake. “It has so far taken us more than two hours from the airport to Ultadanga. We have already missed our appointment with the doctor,” her son Subrata, the owner of a brick kiln in Gurap, said.

Vaishali Garg was peeping out of a car window every now and then, hoping the congestion on VIP Road would ease. She was going to Park Street, where her 10-year-old daughter was waiting to be picked up. “Her classes end at 12 noon and it’s already 11.50am. I don’t know when I will reach there. She must be worried,” said Garg, a resident of Teghoria.

Pronab Roy , a Class VIII student of North Point Senior Secondary Boarding School in Baguiati, could not reach school before classes started. “I missed school as I got stuck in the traffic jam at Lake Town for half-an-hour,” said Pronab, a resident of Rasmoni Bazar in Beleghata.

He walked till Ultadanga, from where he took an autorickshaw back home.

Nilmoni Ghosh, an employee of an IT firm in Salt Lake, missed his appointment with a client. “The entire stretch of VIP road is choked. I don’t know when I will reach my office.”

Harish Chandra Rai, a resident of Lake Town, was jittery about missing his flight, scheduled for 12.30pm. “I will have to pick up my daughter from her office in Sector V. I am certain to miss the flight to Imphal because it is already 11.30am,” he said.