Taxis parked at Dhakuria. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Where: At Dhakuria, below the Jodhpur Park end of the flyover

Status: Taxis are parked right from where the staircase of the footbridge starts. The stretch is congested with tea stalls and vendors. A red Citu board proclaiming the taxi stand to be under its Dhakuria Bridge unit is up right beside a No Parking sign. “We don’t allow more than four taxis here and they are allowed to park only on one side of the road,” claimed Khokon Chatui, a taxi driver. Nonetheless cabs were parked on both sides of the narrow road.

Pedestrianspeak: Seven to eight taxis are always parked on both sides of the road. They don’t leave space for pedestrians to reach the footbridge. The pavements remain filled with hawkers. Even some private cars are parked here. It is difficult for other cars to pass through. — Purbita Pal, resident of Dhakuria.

A taxi stand in front of Jadubabur Bazar

Where: In front of South City Mall

Status: Traffic snarls are a regular feature in front of South City Mall. The 47B-bus terminus was removed from here to ease traffic flow. However, around 15 taxis are always parked in front of the shopping mall. Two taxi stands owing allegiance to the CPM-backed Calcutta Taxi Worker’s Union and the Trinamul-backed Indian National Trinamul Trade Union Congress (Inttuc) eat up roadspace. Both the stands have more than five taxis each. Here, too, the traffic police has put up a No Parking board.

Pedestrianspeak: “I have always seen several taxis parked in front of the mall, adding to the traffic chaos. An easy solution could be to shift the stand a few metres up or down,” said Yashodhara Ghosh, who visits the mall at least once a week.

A taxi stand in front of South City Mall

Where: Near Jadubabur Bazar

Status: Taxis are parked at the intersection of Debendra Ghosh Road and SP Mukherjee Road. Here, too, a board of Progressive Taximen’s Union affiliated to Trinamul hangs near the stand. “The stand has been operative for the past five years. A maximum of five taxis should wait at the stand but there are invariably many more and they are often parked in double line,” admitted a taxi driver at the stand. The stretch is of course bustling, with Jadubabur Bazar bang opposite.

Pedestrianspeak: The road is always full of vehicles. The taxis parked here add to our woes. They stand just at the vital intersection. — Arijit Nandi, a regular visitor to Jadubabur Bazar.

Where: On Deshapran Sashmal Road near Rabindra Sarobar Metro station

Status: Here too a board of Citu hangs overhead. “We allow only five taxis at the stand, though sometimes a few more wait here for passengers. But we make sure there are no traffic snarls because of the taxis,” said Basudeb Pandit, a cabbie.

A queue of taxis on Deshapran Sashmal Road

Pedestrianspeak: They often park in front of the bus stand leaving us with no room to manoeuvre. Moreover, they keep honking, forcing us to leave the bus stand so that they can park here. If someone catches a “running” taxi, they force the passenger out, even though the taxis at the stand often refuse to take passengers. — Pooja Chatterjee, a resident of Charu Market.

Policespeak: We had a meeting recently where we decided to distribute boards to taxi stands authorised by the traffic police. There can’t be taxi stands in No Parking zones. There have been demands from the people to allow taxi stands on some major roads. We will soon meet to discuss whether some of them can be allowed. But our sergeants always take action against taxis parked in No Parking zones. — Dilip Banerjee, the deputy commissioner (traffic).

Unionspeak: If we take any action against illegal taxi stands, they will seek the help of other political parties. Why will we take action against them? It is the police’s duty to find out if they are doing anything illegal. — Kali Ghosh, the state secretary of Citu.

The parking space opposite Jadubabur Bazar has been allotted to Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Society for hearse and ambulances. I have arranged for this space for a few taxis to stand there. It is the administration’s duty and not ours to see that taxis are not parked in No Parking zones. — Madan Mitra, the president of Progressive Taximen’s Union